Yours and Mine
by Jenni the Jester
Summary: Killian Jones, aka Captain Hook, returns to Manhatten to help Emma Swan and Henry Mills remember their lost memories and bring them back to the Enchanted Forest in order to help her family defeat the new threat...the Wicked Witch of the West. Based upon spoilers for season 3B. Captain Swan.
1. Chapter 1

"Okay," Emma stated, pinching her fingertips between her brows, wondering what the hell had possessed her to even give him any chance at all. "You get one chance, Jones."

This man, this perfect stranger to her and her son, whom only a few days ago had shown up at her doorstep and had the audacity to kiss her before she could even register what was happening. This man that she promptly threw out with a knee to the groin and slammed her apartment door in his face, wondering to herself afterwards if the event even had happened at all, still leaving her lips to burn with memory after a single kiss. This infuriating man whom then lurked about, following her around, the entire next few days until she found him waiting at the bus stop where she usually saw Henry off in the mornings, had pushed her far past her limits. She'd finally called the cops, as she'd promised him what seemed a thousand times and had him arrested. Emma had stumbled over the phone when they'd asked her just why she needed this man arrested, why she felt _threatened_. She'd told them that she'd feared for her and her son's safety and that's all they needed to hear.

_Lies_, Emma scolded herself mentally mere minutes later after they'd dragged him off in handcuffs. He'd merely looked disappointed and allowed the police to cuff him without any restraint, as he simply watched her with those blue eyes of his. She had a sneaking suspicion he saw right through the lie of words she'd told the police, only making her feel all the more guilty. After several hours passed as the guilt ate at her and pleas from Henry to release the man (as he'd apparently spoke with Henry a few times in the hallway or at the park without her knowing it and befriended him and thought he was a 'good guy just a little mixed up in the head, Mom'), she suddenly found herself wandering to the police station, retracting her statement and having this stranger released.

This man. This man whom called himself Killian Jones had the audacity to smirk at her and wink when he was uncuffed and released into her custody.

"Finally come to your senses now, Swan, or did you just miss this devilishly handsome face?" he asked her with an all too familiar tone to his voice as he rubbed his wrist with his hand.

Emma merely rolled her eyes at the man. He had to of been in his 30s or so and went gallivanting around in a pirate costume for crying outloud. If he seriously thought that was a turn on, he had another thing coming. Although, he did look good in those tight leather –

"No," Emma said outloud, accidentally, as she brought her thoughts and her walking to a halt at the foot of the station steps.

"_No_…you didn't come to your senses or _no_, you don't believe me to be devilishly handsome, love?" he asked, confused a bit by her sudden outburst, but still resigned to toying with her all the same.

Emma closed her eyes and took a deep breath before pointing her finger into his chest, "Look—"

He grinned again and stopped rubbing his wrist to take her hand and place it flat against his chest, over his heart…a move that rendered Emma from speaking. His teasing had altogether come to a halt as he gave her a more serious expression, a look that seemed somehow familiar to Emma.

_Familiar? Who the hell are you, Killian Jones?_

She snatched her hand back quickly and took a step back from him.

"Emma," he pleaded this time, but made no move towards her, afraid she'd bolt. "Just a chance, love. Let me help you remember. There are lives at stake—"

"You keep saying that," she cut him off. "You keep going on and on about how you know who I am. Know who Henry is, for fuck's sake, and yet you continue with this line about how my family is in danger. Henry is my family, so what am I supposed to think when you keep telling me these things? That _he's_ in some sort of danger? And from what, from you? From some unseen person you have yet to name."

"Emma," he started again, his eyes darting around at the onlookers as she'd raised her voice and garnered them attention…a kind of attention that they didn't need right now. "Emma, please, come here."

Killian grabbed her hand and led her away from the station steps over to the yellow Volkswagen Bug that he knew to be hers. He spun her around so her back was to the car and then pinned her there between his arms on either side of her, in order to gain her full attention.

"Emma, look at me," he commanded her in a hushed authoritative tone as she looked up at him, to surprised by his actions to second guess herself.

_Emma, look at me. Have I told you a lie?_

Some flicker of recognition swept across her face before she schooled herself against it, throwing her walls back up. Killian watched as he could almost visibly see her reconstruct them without her even saying a word. _Emma…even in this version of your life you've had so much hurt, so much pain, my love_. It hurt him to see that it was him that she was now placing walls between them again, that she mistrusted him still at this point. Of course, she did not know him, he reminded himself. There was no beanstalk in this Emma's memories, no Enchanted Forest, no sailing on the Jolly Roger, no Neverland, no Captain Hook… This was Emma Swan, after all, and even before the second curse had happened and ripped her and Henry from their lives, he wasn't even sure if she fully trusted him then. He was just a pirate after all, an unworthy villain. He was the nefarious Captain Hook and Captain Hook had no right in calling Emma Swan, the Savoir, the princess, _his love_. However, when he thought he was going to lose her forever, she chose that moment (_of course she did, bloody stubborn siren_) to give him _hope_.

_Not a day will go by that I won't think of you…_

_Good._

Emma Swan, daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White, knew that hope was something not to be given lightly. He knew as much as she had in that moment that was exactly what she was giving to him. Giving him _hope…_and so that was exactly what Killian Jones did over the last year as he used every waking moment thinking of her, remembering ever bit of her, _hoping_ to see her once again.

"I swear to you, Emma Swan, that I would never harm your lad. Furthermore, I would go so far as to say to you that I would give my life to protect, not only him, but you as well from anything and anyone that tried to harm you."

So dramatic, this man was, she thought to herself as she tore her eyes from him, unable to look into his blue ones with that much emotion pouring out of them.

"Emma, have I told you a lie?"

_Those words, I've heard them before_, she thought.

She looked back up at him to see sympathy passed across his features as her eyes locked with his, "No. You're not lying and maybe that's why I'm here. Maybe that's why I had them release you. I…I'm beginning to wonder…"

Emma trailed off, unable to finish her sentence. She didn't know how to. She was beginning to question her own sanity, let alone her own memories.

"Wonder what, love?" he prompted her, not letting her slip away from this train of conversation, as he felt she was just so very close to the edge of her past memories, if he only prodded her…

"I'm beginning to wonder what's real anymore," she voiced out loud before she'd really meant to. "I know you."

With her last words she placed her hand on the side of his face before continuing, repeating her last words, this time emphasizing each one, "I. Know. You….but why is it that I can't remember you?"

Killian exhaled audibly, a grin splitting his face wide, "I can help you remember, Swan. You and Henry both. I can help you remember your family, whom misses you dearly. I can help you remember the land they are from, the good people they are, the curse that ripped you from us, and I can tell you of what has happened while you were away, the threat that has invaded their land."

Emma smiled sadly at his madness, the poor man believed in what sounded like fairy tales, "Killian…"

"No," he started, reading the look on her face. "I know it all sounds ridiculous, _believe me_. I can only imagine knowing memories of only this realm and how the other one I speak of sounds fantastical to this place, but Emma, I need to help you remember, as much as it will pain me in doing so."

"Pain you?"

Killian visibly flinched. He'd not meant to say that. Perhaps it was the nearness of her with his pinning her to the car or the fact that he felt she was on the verge of remembering, that allowed him to get carried away with himself. The one thing he'd feared in all of this, even in the time before he found a way to this realm to even begin to try to find her, was when she did get her memories back, how it would effect her…knowing that her entire life she'd remembered with Henry, was a lie. Deep down, Killian knew Emma, the Emma from before, would never have wanted a fake life. To be living a lie, wasn't living, he thought. The captain still dreaded the day the false life that Regina had granted Emma, came crashing down around her. He dreaded the end to this dream…for her.

He licked his lips and closed his eyes, knowing he couldn't lie to her, not about this.

"Yes, pains me to tell you this, as it will undo memories that you may have been granted falsely, memories you know now to be true."

"How would that be a bad thing? Killian, if what you say is true, that I've been living a lie, and if you know me the way you say you do, you'd know I'd never want that…never want a false existence."

Killian was silent. He didn't know what to say to that. Her words only further reiterating his belief in her and her need to know the truth, but what she didn't know would be the painful, real memories that would follow. He took in a deep, shaky breath and placed his forehead against hers before continuing to speak.

"If this is your wish, my lady, than let me help you remember. Let me show you who you really are, my Swan."

Emma was mortified at herself that she didn't' pull away from him. She should have been running away screaming from this guy at this point, but his sincerity and the fact that she felt she knew this man before her, kept her in place. Against her own judgment, she felt herself lean into him. Killian took a step back with her and pulled her into his arms, embracing her. Initially, she'd stiffened when he'd wrapped his arms around her, but then she found her arms coming up and returning the hug. _Traitorous arms, _Emma mused to herself.

They stood like that for a few minutes. Emma felt like she was committing this moment to memory, like somehow this, like the memories that Killian had described to her that she was missing, could also be pulled from her. Killian also relished in the moment. He had his Swan in his arms again, a moment that he could have never had again after the curse had taken her from him. Eventually, Killian was the one to pull away, the reality of what was to happen next getting to him.

"We need to get Henry, Emma. Once we get him, then I'll help you both remember."

"With this?" Emma asked as she pulled the vial out of her pocket.

Killian's eyebrows went up to his hairline. He'd thought she'd thrown the potion away when he'd previously given it to her prior to her having the law take him to jail.

"Yeah, so I may have believed you a bit more than I let on when I pretended to throw this away."

He grinned, _such a pirate, Swan._ "Yes, that will be part of it. I had tried _the kiss_, and after that didn't seem to work, well…"

"The kiss? How would that have brought back my memories?"

"Doesn't matter," Killian fidgeted, not wanting to have this discussion. "What matters is you and Henry will remember and then I can take you back."

"Back? Back where?"

"Back to your family."

"And where is this family of mine at?"

"The Enchanted Forest, of course, love."

Emma's mouth fell open. _What the hell have you gotten yourself into, Emma?_


	2. Chapter 2 - A Long Day

I do not own or write for OUaT, though it would be fun.

Thank you to the followers…and on with the show!

* * *

Killian Jones was uncomfortable.

After he'd informed Emma of her parent's whereabouts, she'd all but stopped talking to him. After a long, incredulous look that she'd given him upon that admission and Emma awkwardly breaking what had been a warm embrace, she merely commanded him to get in the "car", as she'd called it, and swiftly went over to the other side and got in. After a few moments of sitting in the car by herself, she'd reached over and opened the door towards him.

"Well? Are you coming?" she'd asked, her tone still agitated by what he could only guess was still the issue of her believing him.

It was going to be a long day, he thought.

Killian got into her vessel with little grace, not used to attempting to be in such a small space with his long coat on, which really wasn't working. Despite how cold it was outside, he got back up quickly, removed his coat, tossed it into the back of her vessel and then sat in the seat next to her. Emma observed him the entire time and noted that, if she didn't know any better, she'd swear he was acting like he'd never been in a car before. Either he was really into this pirate from another world act, or…

"Here," she began, noticing that he had not put on his safety belt yet and really didn't look like it was ever going to happen. "Let me help you with that."

Startling him a bit, Emma leaned close to him and pulled the harness across and down his front before clicking the device into place. He let out a breath he didn't realize he started to hold when her body had brushed against him. Killian cleared his throat, not trusting himself, before he spoke.

"Tying me up again, are we, Swan?" he asked her, a cheeky grin spreading on his face.

Emma rolled her eyes…_seriously, Killian, do you ever stop flirting?_

"You wish. No, just trying to abide the law long enough to go get Henry from school and figure this all out once and for all."

She still didn't believe him, Killian observed, again. He also read between the lines of her last statement, knowing she was out to prove that what he'd been telling her this entire time was some sort of trickery. He sighed, turned his head away from her so she couldn't see his face, and stared out the window - disheartened. The stubbornness and denial this woman could hold onto would be the bloody end of him.

Meanwhile, Emma found herself observing his body language when he came back with no retort to her. He rubbed his left wrist again, absentmindedly, and she wondered if the cops had been a bit too rough with him and the handcuffs earlier.

"Hey, let me see your wrist," she asked as she began to pull his sleeve up and then gasped.

The hand attached wasn't real. He had some sort of contraption on the end of his left wrist holding a false hand on the end of it. Killian physically shot back in his seat and pulled his arm out of her reach, holding it to his chest and mortified that she'd even seen a piece of the device that held that fake hand upon the end of his stump. Even the Emma before he would have spared such horrors.

"I'm fine, Swan," he spat, a bit harsher than he'd intended.

Emma opened her mouth once…twice as if to speak but didn't know what to say. He was missing his left hand and had somewhat hiding that fact from her the entire time. By his reaction, he was embarrassed about it. She frowned and chastised herself for the reaction she'd had to it. It wasn't that she was repulsed by his lack of hand, just surprised when she found that it wasn't real. He'd been wearing gloves the times that she'd encountered him over this last week and due to the cold weather, had just assumed it was for warmth. She didn't realize he was trying to hide the fact that his left hand just wasn't there. She started the car, not knowing really what to say at first, as she let it warm up. When she looked back at him, she'd found him staring out the window away from her again.

"I'm sorry," she said as she closed her eyes, embarrassed at how she'd reacted towards him.

"You haven't need of being sorry, Swan, tis I that should be apologizing to you. My lack of a real hand on that arm would turn anyone's stomach at times," he noted bitterly as he motioned to his fake hand, still not making eye contact with her.

"Hey," she started, shoving as much warmth into her tone as she gently grasped his left wrist. "I wasn't repulsed by your hand, Killian. I just…I just wasn't' expecting it, that's all."

He looked at her with a look that would make most women go weak in the knees at the depth of vulnerability that lie beneath his blue eyes, "Are you…are you quite certain?"

"Yeah, I mean, your missing your left hand, big deal. I mean look at you…you seem to do pretty good without it for a man who wears shirts like that," she said with a grin, trying to make up for her previous reaction to him.

"My shirt?" Killian asked incredulously as he looked down at his shirt. "What about my shirt?"

"Seriously, Killian, that thing has to have like 50 buttons on it. No wonder you never button it all the way up. Hell, I've got two hands and I'd get tired just trying to put something like that on," she stated wryly.

Killian burst out into an honest laugh as Emma grinned. _Mission accomplished, _she thought, as she put the car in reverse and pulled out into the New York streets.

Henry's school wasn't terribly far and Emma was glad of that. With every stop and start of the car, Killian looked like he was going to come unglued as he gripped the car door tightly with white knuckles. When the reached the school parking lot, Emma pulled the car to a stop and turned it off. She then pulled her cellphone out of her purse and began to text Henry's phone:

HEY, KID, IN THE BACK LOT TO PICK YOU UP TODAY.

She hit send and waited a few seconds before she put the phone away to see if he would message her back. When she heard the tell-tale ding of her phone, she grinned and checked the message.

OKAY…WHY?

Emma looked at Killian, whom was pale from their car experience. What should she even tell the kid? _Oh hey, I'm here with the pirate and we're going to drink this magic potion and then go to the Enchanted Forest so you'd better pack a sandwich, _she'd thought with a frown. No, she didn't want to scare him, or get his hopes up for that matter. When Henry had started in on her with the whole "get his new friend Killian out of jail" bit, he was already talking like he bought everything the man had told him as truth. She shook her head. Henry was too trusting for his own good sometimes, but the kid had such a heart on him. It would hurt him when they'd finally learn the real truth about Killian; she'd thought to herself, as she looked over to Killian once again and sighed.

JUST BECAUSE, OKAY? XOXO

There that should do it, she thought, as she quickly stuffed her phone back in her jacket pocket. She noticed Killian run his hand down his face that was still looking rather pale and then he fumbled with the door handle and suddenly got out of the car. She watched as he took in a deep breath and leaned with his back against the car, as if stretching. Emma got out and walked over to his side of the car, concerned, and found him still leaning with his back against it, and his eyes closed.

"You okay there?" she asked as he opened one eye to look at her.

"Traveling by _car_, is even less smooth than being on a ship for the first time, Swan."

_What else would you call my 'car'?_

"Never been in a car before? Really?" she asked him, skeptically; though she could clearly see he had all the signs of being slightly car-sick.

"Aye, and were we not on a mission, I'd refrain from doing so ever again."

Emma laughed, "But you'd prefer we traveled by _ship?_"

"And how else, dear Swan, would a pirate travel?"

"Pirate? And here I thought it was just the clothes—"

"Pirate _captain_, sweetheart," he said with a grin, the color beginning to return to his face, and thus his flirtatious side back with it.

Emma rolled her eyes and began to retort when she heard her phone go off again. She pulled it out to find that Henry had messaged her again.

U GOT HIM OUT OF JAIL, DIDN'T U?

Damn, she thought, her kid was entirely too smart for his own good. She started to text him back and found Killian leaning over her shoulder, watching her type.

"Tell your lad, hello, from me, will you, love?" he said as he grinned and move her to the side so he could reach back into the car and grab his coat to put on.

"Eavesdropper," she called him, fighting a grin.

YES.

_What the hell are you getting yourself into, Emma?_

TELL HIM HI.

She rolled her eyes. It almost felt like, between the two of them, they were ganging up on her. She looked over to find Killian grinning mischievously to her.

"What?" she asked him.

"Oh nothing," he said in a rather sing-song voice.

Her eyes narrowed at him, "Really, Killian, what?"

He looked upwards before he answered, as if having an internal debate with himself before answering her, "I suppose, I'm…I'm just glad you're finally giving me a chance."

She grinned wryly at him, _you really never give up do you,_ "Yeah, well, like I said, I'll give you one shot, Killian. You'd better be ready."

"I always love a challenge, Swan. You know that."

"Isn't that what we're discussing here, that I don't know, or rather, I don't remember that?"

She watched as he walked over to her and leaned in, mere inches from her face. He was close enough she could feel his breath on her and the heat radiating off of him. Emma could feel her heart thudding in her chest and she held her breath, half-expecting him to kiss her again. She slid her eyes closed…

"You _know_, Swan. Deep down, I think you are realizing you may have always known," he said lowly as he cocked an eyebrow at her and gave her what she could only call a _smoldering_ gaze.

Emma audible gulped as she snapped her eyes back open, "Known…what…exactly?"

_Damn this stupid pirate._

_Pirate? When did I start calling him pirate?_

"Mom!" Henry's voice suddenly cut through her mind as she jumped and stepped backwards away from Killian so fast she lost her balance.

Faster than she thought he could move in that heavy leather coat, Killian caught her and helped her to her feet as Henry made his way over to them. The boy was all smiles and out of breath from running across the parking lot to them.

"Killian!" he started, still out of breath. "I'm…I'm so glad Mom came to her senses and got you out of jail."

"Hey!" Emma said, offended, as she stepped out of Killian's arms quickly. "I didn't need to _come to my senses_. I'm your mother, Henry. I was just trying to look out for you."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. But I told you he was harmless, Mom," he said as he rolled his eyes and went over to stand in front of Killian. "Glad to have you back."

"Tis good to be back, lad," he said genuinely as he ruffled Henry's hair with his good hand.

Emma couldn't help herself but grin a bit at the sign of affection Killian gave to her son. She watched as Henry began to tell Killian about his day at school and asked him how jail was and if they treated him okay. Killian merely responded that if he were to have been kept there much longer that he would have merely picked the lock and broke himself out of jail, a fact that Henry seemed to be impressed with. She shook her head and slightly chucked as Killian caught her eye and smiled warmly at her before continuing his conversation with her son.

Her grin turned bittersweet though as the reality of their situation really began to set in as she watched them. This was going to be it. She'd take a sip from that vile that had who knows what in it and when nothing happened, that would be that. The reality of the fact that Killian was delusional would set in for Henry and Killian, himself, and his haunting their every footstep would be over. Her face melted into a sad smile just as Killian looked back up at her. He gave her a questioning look as if to say _what's wrong_ as she merely shook her head.

Sensing that she was hiding something, he then helped Henry with his backpack into the back seat of the car. Killian then rounded the car, catching Emma before she opened the driver's side of the car, by the arm.

"Emma?"

"It's nothing."

"Nothing, darling, usually means _something_ when it comes from you. I saw that look on your face…"

"It's just," she started, not really knowing how to put what she was thinking in words. "It's…I just…"

She sighed, frustrated with what she was feeling. On one hand, she wanted this done and over with, but on the other, she knew deep down that she knew Killian from…somewhere. It was like when you'd forget the name of a song that came on the radio, where it felt like it was on the edge of your mind but you just couldn't reach it. Emma found herself questioning how she'd feel when this was all over with…and if she really wanted him out of their life at that point. He was too familiar, too casual with her, as if he knew her entirely too well for someone whom had merely followed her around for a week. There was something there…just on the edge of her mind…

"Emma?" he asked her again, softly, his hand gently grasping her upper arm.

"When…Once I drink the vial, no matter what happens, Killian, I mean, you don't really know if it will work and I –"

"Emma, stop," he began. "I'm not going anywhere."

She let out a sigh and found herself reaching up to fix his collar that was askew without thinking about it, smoothing it back into place before she realize what she was doing and she froze. He smiled sadly at her, knowing what she must be going through in this moment, but also knowing all that was riding on getting her to believe. He brought his hand over hers and pulled it again over his heart, causing her eyes to flick up in surprise to him again.

"I promised myself a long time ago, Emma, that I'm in this for the long haul…no matter what," he stated reassuringly to her as he rubbed circles on her hand.

Killian Jones knew exactly what she was thinking. He knew she still didn't believe him. He knew that she thought that drinking the potion that Regina had prepared for her and Henry wasn't going to work. He only hoped that when it did (_and it had better_, he thought to himself) that she would be able to handle all of her true memories returning…Henry too, he thought sadly with a glance to her son. It would surely break him if the lad took this hard. He squeezed her hand a bit tighter and found her looking up at him, searching his face for answers.

"Okay," she stated, resolved to going through with this. "So how much of this should I drink?"

Emma pulled out the vial and opened it as Killian's heart almost stopped and he grabbed it from her suddenly, "No wait!"

"What?!" she stepped back from him, a bit shocked from his sudden move.

Killian gingerly placed the cork back on the potion with a relieved sigh, "I was given explicit instructions, my lady, to not have you drink this until we cross Storybrook's boundaries."

"Storybrook? I thought we were supposed to go to the Enchanted Forest…?"

"Yeah, aren't we going to the Enchanted Forest?" came Henry's voice from the car, the two adults turning to find he'd rolled the window down to listen to their conversation without them realizing it.

"Nay, lad. We need to trigger your memories at the one place everything happened and then we can take the wardrobe back to the Enchanted Forest, back to your family."

"The wardrobe?" Emma asked. "As in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?"

Killian gave her a confused look, "I've no knowledge of a lion in Storybrook, Swan, but there is most certainly a witch to be dealt with and the wardrobe will allow us to travel across realms."

Emma closed her eyes in frustration, "So we're going to a place called Storybrook?"

"Yes."

"And it's not in the Enchanted Forest."

"Correct."

"Where is it, exactly?"

"In a country called Maine," he said matter-of-factly.

"You mean the state? We're going to the state called Maine? Jesus, Killian, you could have said there would be a trip involved. It's not like Maine is right down the street from here or anything. I mean we probably need to pack if that's the case."

"Aye. Apologies, I did not realize I had forgotten to relay this to you. Will that be okay?" he asked, worried now that she might back out.

Emma pulled out her phone and used the map application and did a quick search for Storybrook, Maine, only to find nothing came up. Nothing at all.

"Killian, there is no Storybrook, Maine," she said showing him the map on the phone that had come up with nothing.

He looked almost confused at the screen she showed him before returning his attention to her, "I know, love, but you're lucky you're in the company of a pirate captain, whom just so happens to have a map to where we need to go. And trust me, darling, I'm very good with maps."

Killian pulled out what looked to be an old-world map detailing from her apartment area in New York to someplace marked on the map as Storybrook in Maine. He grinned almost proudly at her as she sighed incredulously.

"Of course you have what looks like a treasure map leading us there," she said as she threw her hands up in the air. "Get in the car, Killian. We've got some packing to do."


	3. Chapter 3

You know the drill. I do not own OUaT, Captain Hook, Emma Swan, or Henry Mills. But I do love to write about them (along with a slew of other fictional characters, to name a few).

Enjoy the show.

-Y&M-

In the time it took them to drive back to Emma and Henry's apartment, Emma wondered if they'd need to drink the vial at all to remember anything with the stories that Henry had Killian tell him about the Enchanted Forest. The boy had grilled him like a good reporter, asking anything and everything that came to mind. Emma grinned at the fact that Killian would indulge him with fantastical stories about a magical land once ruled by an evil queen whom maybe wasn't so evil anymore. She could tell though, that Killian was choosing what he was telling Henry carefully. He'd managed to avoid speaking anything of how she and Henry fit into all of this in a manner Emma suspected was purposeful. Whether it was that he didn't want to overwhelm Henry (since their leather-clad friend completely believed all this fairy tale mumbo-jumbo), or if it was that he didn't know the whole story himself.

"So what should I pack?" Henry asked him with a brilliant grin as they made their way up the stairs to the apartment.

The smile, that Emma realized she'd been wearing since their car ride over, softly faded into that of a sad one. Again, she began to regret going along with any of this, mostly due to Henry. He _believed_ it all so easily and she had never, not even with Walsh, seen Henry open up to another man so freely and warmly as he had with Killian. It was going to break Henry's heart when all of this was found to be untrue. _Maybe I should stop this now…?_

"Well," she heard Killian say to him as if contemplating, "that all depends, young sir. We may not be coming back to your realm any time soon, so one might want to bring the essentials and possibly anything of sentiment for your travels."

"Hmm," Henry said as he stopped at the top of the stairs to wait for his mother to catch up to them. "That's a tough one, I mean, did you know if you were ever going to get back to the Enchanted Forest? What did you take with you when you came here?"

Killian stopped in mid-stride, so quickly, Emma almost ran into him. He placed his hand on her arm to steady her after they collided.

"My apologies, my lady," he began, looking a bit flustered.

"It's okay, pirate, I'm the clumsy one," she said with a shrug.

_Again with the pirate thing, Emma, what's wrong with you?_

"So what was it?" Henry asked again.

"What was what, young sir?"

"Henry. Please, Killian, if we're going to be friends, just call me Henry. I mean it's not like I'm a knight or something. Not yet anyway. But OH! I bet you could teach me about the knights there!"

"Indeed, I could, although, being a pirate, as it were, I'm not sure if I'd be teaching you about the right and proper way of being a knight. No, I think Da-, I mean, your grandfa, I mean I think there are others back home that would be able to educate you more properly on that subject," Killian stammered, avoiding mentioning Charming and going down that road with Henry until they had drank the potion and regained their memories.

"And I was asking about what you took with you when you came to find us. What was the most important thing you had to bring with you that you couldn't live without?" Henry asked as he looked up at the captain.

Again, Killian stilled and this time Emma caught it, "Yeah, Killian, if you came all this way for us, what items couldn't you live without?"

Killian looked down at his shoes and fiddled with the earring in his ear before answering, a trait Emma should NOT have found adorable, but found herself biting back a grin at, "Well, as you know, the potion was the most important item I brought with me, as without that, you—Henry, I wouldn't have been able to help you and your mother regain your memories."

"Yeah, but you had to bring that. I mean the things you didn't have to bring. What was the one thing you grabbed that was the most important?" Henry pressed him, picking up on the fact that he was somewhat dodging the question.

The captain let out a defeated sigh, "Besides coin - to enable me to be able to survive here, I did bring one item of sentiment, I suppose."

Emma watched as he pulled out a simple deep red scarf from somewhere within the folds of his long-coat, "You see, Henry…I've had this scarf for a very long time; however, tis not the age of the scarf, or that I'd used it for years that made me bring it with me."

Killian locked eyes with Emma before he continued, as he slowly walked towards her to finish his tale, "Once upon a time, I climbed a beanstalk with a beautiful princess. She'd injured her hand in the process and I, being the gentleman, tended to her wounded hand, cleaning it first, of course, and then wrapping it in my scarf in order to keep it from worsening."

Emma unconsciously rubbed the scar across the palm of her hand, unable to look away from his piercing gaze that had her enthralled as he came to stand so close to her that she could swear she could feel the heat emanating off of him. She blushed visibly.

"So you see, Henry," he said softly, mere inches from her face as he brought the scarf up and wrapped it around her neck gently. "I brought this scarf as a reminder of her. A reminder of the princess, whom I'd vowed I'd never forget."

"A scarf?" Henry asked as he shook his head, the meaning of it all a bit lost upon him. "I sorta get it, but wouldn't' you have wanted to bring your pirate sword or something with you instead?"

Henry turned the corner, nearing their apartment , leaving Emma and Killian where they were, still rooted to the spot. Neither of them had moved nor said anything after he'd placed the scarf around her neck. His hand was still on the edge of one side of the scarf on her shoulder. When he realized she wasn't going to say anything, he cleared his throat.

"Did you like my story, love?" he asked, still fearing that Emma would bolt any moment from him, with all the uncertainty surrounding them.

"It was a nice story, Killian," she began, "Any truth to it? I mean a scarf, really?"

Her words should have been sarcastic, but he heard the questioning in her voice. _The princess…Killian, are you implying that is me?_

"Yes, a scarf. For when the princess and I were separated, that was all I'd had left, I suppose."

He wasn't lying and it was almost too much. Emma sucked in a deep breath and took a few steps back from him, breaking the moment and throwing up her walls again.

"Well we'd better get packing. As it is we'll probably have to wait till tomorrow morning to head out, it's almost dinner time and I'd rather not be driving for 8 or so hours in the dark."

Killian nodded, "As you wish."

"Really?" she asked over her shoulder as she turned the corner to where her apartment was.

"What?"

"_The Princess Bride_, Killian?"

"What bride? I'm sorry?" he asked, completely confused.

"Oh, nevermind. I just—" Emma said as she then stopped dead in her tracks.

"Emma," an exasperated voice said to her from in front of her apartment door.

"Walsh," she stated, surprised beyond belief.

_God, this is not happening. Not now, dammit._

Walsh stood from where he'd been sitting, leaning against the door of her apartment, "Emma, baby, I'm…I'm sorry about last night. It was too soon, I was wrong I should have—Wait, what, who is this?"

"Killian Jones," Killian stated, his voice flat and devoid of emotion as Emma felt him come to stand right behind her.

"And who are you to Emma, exactly, Mr. Jones?"

"I'm—"

"-an old friend, Walsh. Look, I told you last night. I think…I think we need a break. I need some space to get my head together and—" Emma began as she saw a scowl flash across Walsh's face as he locked and narrowed his eyes at Killian behind her.

"And you what, found somebody else to fill your bed for the moment?" he asked her venomously, eyes still on Killian behind her, whom bristled.

"Excuse me?" Emma asked him, taken back at his words, never once in all the time she'd been with him seeing him act like this.

"I-," he began and then ran his hand over his face in frustration. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for, Emma, but I…I just think we need to talk, is all. Please why don't you come with me and we can talk about this over coffee or something."

Walsh grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards the other end of the hallway. Emma didn't move.

"Let go of my arm, Walsh," Emma asked him with a hint of authority to her voice as she felt Killian step, again, closer to her.

"No, Emma, we need to talk…_privately,_" Walsh demanded again, this time digging his fingers into her arm and actually managing to yank her around backwards as if to drag her down the hall.

"The lady asked you unhand her, mate," Killian warned him, his eyes darkening. "Do not make her ask it of you again."

"You know what…_fuck you_, whomever you are. This is between me and my fiancé, asshole."

"NO!" Emma said, jerking her hand out of his grasp as she looked at him incredulously. "I am not your fiancé, Walsh. I told you that I wasn't marrying you last night and I meant it. Now please. Like I said, I…I need my space to think about things between us for a bit. It's all too sudden and there's been a lot of crazy going on lately and—"

"You bitch," Walsh murmured under his breath as he shook his head and threw his hands up in the air dramatically.

"What did you call her?" Killian asked as he felt the blood boil in his veins, stepping slightly between Walsh and Emma.

"You heard me. You know what good luck with that," Walsh began, motioning at Emma, as the anger rose in his face. "I've been trying to break those walls of hers for a year now and this is the gratitude I get for all my hard work. She just uses people. I'm just another notch on the wall. You know what, Emma, I bought the whole orphan act and the bit about what happened between you and that Neal guy, but seriously, I'm really beginning to wonder at this point if it was ever true. You're just a coward when it comes to relationships. You can't handle anyone loving you cause you don't know how to love you heartless bi—"

And then it happened. Before Emma could even think, Killian had Walsh pinned up against the wall, holding him at least a foot off the floor, with his other, false hand, pinned upside Walsh's neck. Walsh let out a laugh between gasps unlike anything Emma had ever heard out of him.

"What is it you find so laughable?" Killian growled at Walsh as the man had the audacity to continue to laugh at him.

Walsh locked eyes with the pirate between gasps and moved his face as close as he could to Kilian's, so only he could hear his next words, "Wouldn't that be easier if you had your hook on that hand, Captain?"

The breath caught in Killian's throat as cold fear washed over him and he faltered, releasing Walsh a bit. There was no mistaking the words this man had just said to him. The mere fact that this man, _Emma's man_, that stood before him knew the reality of whom he really was, was terrifying, not to Killian in regards to his own welfare, but his fear for Emma and Henry. This man Walsh had snuck his way into their lives to-to what, spy on them?

"Who are you?" Killian demanded, practically growling at him as he pushed him harder against the wall by his throat.

If this man knew of the Enchanted Forest and had wormed his way into Emma's life, and he wasn't one of her family's friends, it could only mean one thing…he was here for nefarious reasons…and possibly working for their enemy.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Walsh croaked out with a wink.

"Killian," Emma began, having enough of all this as she placed her hand gently on his upper arm. "Please, let him go. I don't want to have to bail you out of jail for a second time today."

Killian was torn. He needed to find out who this man was, but yet, he didn't want to alarm Emma at the same time. Something was going on here and this man was not their friend. Suddenly, startling all of the adults, the apartment door opened and Henry stepped out.

"Hey, were you guys coming or…," he stopped, taking in the scene before him. "Walsh?"

Killian released a sigh and reluctantly let go of Walsh letting the man slide to the floor, not wanting to make a scene in front of the boy.

"Hey, Henry," Walsh began as he rubbed his throat, smirking a bit at Killian, knowing the man wouldn't try anything in front of the boy. "I just came by to say hello to your mom. I was just on my way out."

"Okay…?" Henry said, his brow furrowing, not buying a bit of what he told him. "See ya, later then?"

"Most assuredly," Walsh said to Killian alone as he then turned and walked away.

Killian didn't move from where he stood protectively between Walsh and Emma until he heard Walsh's footsteps take him out the door and down the stairs. He released a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding and closed his eyes, relieved for now that whoever this Walsh character was, he was away from Emma and Henry…for now. The real fear of whom Walsh really was still nagging at the back of his mind.

"You guys coming in?" Henry asked as he watched them both closely.

"Yeah, Henry, just a sec. You go ahead and order us some pizza for tonight, as we won't head out until tomorrow morning for Storybrook, okay?" Emma said as she watched Killian closely.

"Oh, okay," he said with one last slightly confused look at the both of them before closing the apartment door again.

"So what the hell was that all about?" Emma asked him, a hint of anger in her voice.

"He was hurting your arm and I was attempting to stop him from doing do," he said matter-of-factly.

"I don't need someone to protect me, Killian, I've been taking care of myself for quite some time so I'd prefer you not—"

"I know you can take care of yourself, Swan," he cut her off, the adrenaline in his veins from the previous situation getting the best of him. "That being said you cannot expect me to just stand there and let someone harm you and play with your emotions like that without doing…something, can you?"

Again, he locked eyes with her and the emotion pouring out of them at her was almost suffocating. _Exasperation, caring, sympathy, adoration, concern, and something else…_something Emma wasn't ready to deal with at the moment.

"You didn't have to do that, you know? I was taking care of it," she said with a sigh, _ridiculous pirate_.

"I know you were."

"So next time just let me handle it, okay?"

"Well, I'm hoping there is not a 'next time', love, but if so, I shall attempt to refrain from rescuing you."

"Thank you," Emma began as she opened the apartment door and motioned for him to follow her inside.

"And he was wrong, Emma," she heard Killian say as he walked into her apartment with her and took off his coat.

"What?"

"What that man said about you…he was very, very wrong," Killian said as he shrugged and fiddled with a statue of a unicorn on the shelf he spied. "I've seen first-hand the depths which you can love someone, Emma Swan. Your relationship with Henry is proof of that alone, so pay no heed to what that _villain_ said to you, love. You would go to the ends of the earth for the ones you love."

Emma stopped to look at him as she watched him take in her apartment for the first time, the words he'd said to her touching her a bit more than she was willing to let on. Her heart constricted painfully in her chest. No one had really ever defended her before, let alone told her with such assurance that she was able to love, something she, herself, wasn't terribly convinced she could do.

"Thanks," she said to him in a small voice, almost without realizing she'd spoken out loud.

"No need to thank me, darling, I am just relaying you the truth."

She smiled wryly as she opened the cabinet, attempting to busy herself and avoid talking anymore about Walsh and how he'd just acted. She'd never seen him behave like that in the entire year she'd know him. Emma knew she'd hurt him in turning down the proposal, but that…the way he acted, that was something else entirely. Something that she was quite thankful Henry had not been witness to the majority of.

"So…you like cocoa?" she began with a smile that Killian returned as he leaned against the counter in her kitchen.

Emma proceeded to make the three of them cocoa with cinnamon, a drink for some reason Killian found amusing and he proceeded to tell her he'd tell her more about it once her memories back, to which she merely shook her head. Henry had picked out a movie for them to watch once the pizza came and they sat down in front of the television (something Killian found completely fascinating) on the couch to eat and watch the show. Again confirming the suspicion she had about Henry and Killian being in league with each other at this point, Henry had picked out _The Princess Bride_, much to her chagrin.

When the point about Wesley's line to Buttercup "As you wish" was explained, she found herself watching Killian for his reaction to the movie and found herself surprised to merely see a sentimental smile cross his face, but no inkling that he recognized the movie at this point whatsoever. His entire behavior that night, with the surprise and fascination of the "magic box" as he'd referred to the television, to his exuberant declaration that his new favorite food was pizza, had her almost believing that this man came from another world, or realm, as he would call it. Her heart also warmed when she'd realized that Henry had fallen asleep and had leaned into Killian, which the man had simply allowed as if it were commonplace and wrapped his arm over the back of the couch to let the boy sleep undisturbed until the movie was over.

"Hey," Emma began softly, noticing the movie was over and realizing she'd just been watching Killian and Henry for the last half-hour. "Sorry, he falls asleep anywhere in any position, it seems."

"No need to apologize, Swan," he stated also in hushed tones as he moved on the couch and lifted Henry up into his arms, attempting not to wake him. "Where might the lad's bed be?"

Emma began to object, that he really didn't need to do that, but thought the better as she motioned silently to follow her to Henry's room. She untucked his bedsheets as Killian layed him softly on the bed, leaving Emma to tuck him in as he went back to the living room. Once Emma was finished putting Henry to bed, placing a kiss atop his head, she then went to her room to gather a spare pillow and sheets and a pair of sweatpants that were too big on her that she'd hoped might fit Killian so he could at least be comfortable on the couch.

"Killian?" she asked in the darkness of the living room, not finding him on the couch where she'd thought he'd gone.

"Yes?" his voice came from the window as he was looking out to the streets below.

"I've got your pillow and blankets over on the couch so you can sleep here tonight. I also placed some sweatpants that are huge on me that might fit you if you want to get comfy. I don't' imagine leather being that comfortable to sleep in," she said with a grin.

"I wouldn't want to impose," he began, still scanning the outside as if looking for something.

"You're not imposing, Killian, I'm inviting you to stay," she said as she came over to stand next to him. "…on, on the couch."

"Thank you, Swan," he said as he looked at her, the moonlight the only light in the room catching her hair and eyes and illuminating them in a way that pulled at Killian's heart with an ache to reach out and touch her.

"What were you looking at?" she asked.

"I was checking to make sure your man had not returned. The man named Walsh, I believe you called him."

"Killian," she warned.

"How long have you known this man, Swan?" he asked rather boldly, his eyes returning to the street, looking for any sign of him.

"Almost a year or so, I dunno. Look, you're not going to give me relationship advice are you? I mean, you barely know me," she said, the words feeling guilty somehow upon her lips.

_Oh, but he does know you, doesn't he, Emma?_

"I know you enough, Swan, to know you checked the window for the very same reason three times tonight and did not believe I had noticed."

Emma's eyes widened. _Dammit, he caught that_. Killian saw the look upon her face and softly chuckled.

"Don't worry, love, you're secret's safe with me. And you need not worry about your man, Walsh. I will not let anyone bring harm to you or your son."

The sincerity in this man's eyes, even in the dark of the room, at that statement was almost hard to look at as Emma tore her eyes away from him uncomfortably.

"Yeah, well, thanks, but just don't go getting in trouble again okay?"

"As you wish," he said after a few long moments, bringing her chin up with his finger to force her to look at him.

Emma gulped audibly and licked her lips. They stood like that, their faces inches apart for what seemed like a lifetime before Emma backed away, awkwardly, running into the edge of the end-table.

"Well, I should—ow—I should be getting to bed now if we're going on a trip tomorrow and I still have some _packing _to do so, goodnight, Killian," she stammered as she then turned, embarrassed at acting like a teenager when he was in her close proximity, and went into her bedroom and closed the door behind her, leaning her back against it as she let out a long sigh.

"Goodnight," she heard his voice from what sounded like the other side of the door before she turned off the light and attempted to sleep.

-Y&M-

Meanwhile, from the building across from her apartment, what neither Killian nor Emma could see, Walsh watched from an empty room through a spyglass pointed towards Emma's apartment. Anger boiling within the man's veins as he saw what little he could through the windows of her apartment. He stood from his perch and let out an inhuman wail as he ran his hand violently down the wall beside him, tearing into the wallpaper and drywall as if his fingers were clawed.

"This is NOT how it was supposed to go! You told me she was here with her son ALONE!" he said out into the darkness. "YOU SAID SHE WOULD FALL EASILY IF I GAINED HER TRUST! And now I'm STUCK here with no way of getting back now that HE'S here! HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO—"

"SILENCE!" a female voice boomed through the room as Walsh suddenly cowered down on all fours.

An eerie, greenish glow began to emanate from the middle of the room he was in, forming into a sphere. Walsh visibly shook and knelt before the orb.

"Your majesty," his voice came. "I—I meant no disrespect."

"Fool," was all the voice said, her voice echoing in the room. "You are a fool to think the Savior could so easily be swayed, monkey."

"Yes, yes. I am a fool. Tell me how I can better serve you, Majesty."

"Follow them. Do not let them come to the other side…no matter the cost."

"Do you mean?"

"Kill the pirate. Take her heart and the boy's and bring them to me to be my pets, Walsh. End this."

"Yes," Walsh said with a bow and a malicious grin to the orb. "As you command, majesty."


	4. Chapter 4

I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of its characters. I just so happen to be a fan that loves to write.

Note: I have revised chapter 3 slightly, for those whom have been following along, for a few discrepancies and cleaned it up a bit. Since I do not have a beta for my stories (applications welcome) I tend to post almost immediately after writing, with little review. I'm going to take a bit more review time so as to give you, my readers, a better story.

Apologies on the wait…now on with the show…

-Y&M-

Emma lay flat on her back in her bed, staring at the ceiling in her bedroom. She grimaced, as had been in this same position, eyes wide open and awake, for at least the last three hours. She sighed and rolled over slightly, to glance at the clock on her iPad.

_3:15am_

"Damnit," she swore lightly under her breath in resignation and sat up in bed.

_What the hell is wrong with me, _Emma thought to herself, as the events of the day came crashing down on her. She had a perfect stranger sleeping on her couch, for crying out loud, with Henry sleeping merely a few feet from him. What kind of mother was she? What about this man led her to believe she could trust him like that?

_But you do_, her conscience whispered to her. _You do trust him…more than you trust yourself._

Emma bit those thoughts down as she glanced over to the end table where she'd laid the scarf he'd draped over her earlier. The feelings Killian evoked in her were indeed those of trust. Trust, safety, familiarity—these were all what she felt when she'd thought of him. Emma felt as though her own emotions were betraying her. How could she just forget someone like that, someone whom had meaning to her? She _knew_ Killian. She knew he was a friend. She knew he _knew_ her.

_I know you better than you know yourself, love, _she heard his words echo in her mind.

Something in her knew at that moment, when he'd hijacked the table she'd been dining with Walsh at, that his words were true. All of them. She knew deep down when he'd made that comment her reaction wasn't as if he was some crazy person chiding her on the walls she'd so carefully constructed around her over the years, it was a reaction one would have when your best friend called you out on your faults for your own good. Why, then, couldn't she remember anything about him?

And then there was Walsh. What had gotten into him earlier? She knew she'd hurt him the night before when she'd turned down his marriage proposal, but Walsh had always been a kind, gentle person with her and Henry. He had never so much as raised his voice with her when they had gotten into arguments over the last 8 months they'd been together and then yesterday…

Yesterday it was as if she didn't know him at all. The venom in his eyes as he lashed out verbally to her had shocked her to the core. Even before, when she'd first ran into him and he tried to pull her down the hallway, digging his fingers painfully into her arm, his actions revealed a darker side that not once had she or Henry ever been witness to. Emma absently glanced at her arm that he'd grabbed, only now noticing that he'd actually bruised her with his grip. _Jesus, Walsh, what the hell?_

Trust your gut, Henry had said to her, as he always did when it came to making big decisions in her life. How her little boy had grown up without her realizing it over this last year, she'd never know, but he'd always been right. Her gut reactions, as much as she hated them, had always turned out to be correct. When Walsh had asked her to marry him, her gut reaction was fear and a little bit of disbelief. She thought, as she had the entire time she'd been dating him, that it was too good to be true. That things were too good—too perfect—to be real with him.

Maybe, just maybe, after being witness to Walsh's actions last night, her gut had been right all along.

Emma's face crumpled as a soft cry escaped her lips. She'd really thought Walsh might have been the relationship that would have turned into her _happily ever after_. She wanted that more than anything. And now…now she felt like she'd failed somehow. Emma felt like she should have picked up on the signs that Walsh wasn't this perfect person that she'd thought him to be. People weren't perfect, she reminded herself. They were full of flaws and secrets and disappointment. All she had wanted was for her and Henry to complete their little family, to find that missing piece that she'd felt weighed heavily upon her conscience all Henry's life. He needed a father figure and she needed someone to love her.

Perhaps that just wasn't in the cards for Emma Swan.

Emma felt the hole in her life where someone else was supposed to fit open up into nothingness again and it was just too much as another sob escaped her lips. She wiped frantically at the warm tears on her cheeks, embarrassed that she could be so weak as to let this all get to her like that. She needed to be strong. Needed to be strong for herself and for Henry. They didn't need anyone else. What was wrong with her and Henry against the world? They didn't need anyone else.

Emma realized she was staring at the scarf on the end table this entire time as the thoughts of yesterday consumed her. She let out a soft laugh, further wiping the remainder of the tears from her face as she picked up the scarf off the end table.

_Once upon a time, I climbed a beanstalk with a beautiful princess…_

A small grin crossed her face. Stupid pirate, believing in all this fairy-tale bullshit. She lifted the scarf to her nose, inhaling the scent of it—of him, secretly wishing it would allow her to remember just who Killian was to her. It smelled of spice and leather and a bit of something else, perhaps alcohol? No rum. The scarf smelled of spices, leather, and rum. _Of course it smelled of rum, stupid fairy-tale pirate,_ Emma thought as she rolled her eyes at his ridiculousness. Speaking of which…

"I need a drink if I think I'm ever going to get back to sleep tonight," Emma mumbled out loud to herself as she opened the door to go sneak into the kitchen to get a nightcap.

She froze, her eyes wide and her chin dropping at the site before her. There walking out of her kitchen was Killian Jones, whom also froze, caught off-guard, by her coming out of the bedroom. He was wearing nothing but the sweatpants, hung low on his hips, and held something in his hand. He appeared to have been heading straight towards her room. Upon further investigation, Emma spied her decanter of rum open on the kitchen countertop and what Killian had in his hand, were two tumblers filled partially with rum. She blinked in disbelief, not once, but twice, and had to forcibly remind herself to close her mouth again.

"But how—" she began as she found her eyes traveling down his chest and torso before realizing she was doing so.

Emma licked her lips. Killian grinned, watching her.

"Like what you see, love?" he asked lowly as a cocky grin crept over his features.

"I—what? Or no, I don't, you—" she began, stumbling over her own words before shaking her head side to side in order to chase away her thoughts. "What are you doing?"

Killian pulled his head back, surprised, and shrugged, his tone taking on a softer lilt, "I'd…I'd heard you rustling about in your room and thought that you might have had trouble sleeping so I made us each a drink."

He held up the glasses with his one hand as they clinked together. Killian grinned and wagged his eyebrows at her, playfully. His grin died though as he took in her face and eyes. Concern washed over his features as he took a few steps toward her.

"Love…have you been crying?" he asked quietly with such sincerity that Emma gasped softly.

"I…," she began, not really knowing what to say at his perceptiveness. "No, I'm—I'm okay. I just had a hard time sleeping that's all. Ironically, I came out to get a drink to see if it would let my brain shut off long enough so I could at least try to get some shut-eye."

She could tell the way he was watching her that he knew she'd lied. He stayed quiet for a few moments longer before nodding his head sadly and offering her one of the tumblers of rum from his hand. Emma followed him over to the kitchen where they sat in comfortable silence for a moment. Killian sipped at his rum, watching Emma the entirety of the time, as if waiting for her to speak first. Emma merely looked into the depths of the glass of rum wishing it could provide her answers to the mess of what her life was at the moment. She felt tears sting her eyes again as her emotions tried to get the best of her and she snapped them shut and gulped down the entire contents of her glass and then slammed it lightly on the table top, being careful of the noise so as to not wake Henry.

"I just," she began. "I wish…"

Emma shook her head and realized Killian had gotten up and brought the decanter over to the table before refilling her glass without a word. He left the decanter on the table and slid down to crouch in front of her. She felt him move her hair that had fallen forward, shrouding her face, back over her shoulder gently.

"Swan," he began as he took her chin and tilted it so she would look at him. "Look at me, Swan."

Emma just shook her head unable to look up and meet his eyes for fear her emotions would get the best of her again and whether she knew Killian or not, she didn't like to cry in front of anyone. She didn't need his sympathy for her being a hot mess at the moment. She heard him release a sigh and felt his hand on her knee.

"I'm sorry, Emma," he said softly.

That got her attention and snapped her out of being upset, "Sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for, Killian, I-"

"Aye, but I do, lass," he started as he stood up and leaned his hand on the back of her couch, his back to her. "I'm the one whom is the cause of your misery at present. I came here and disrupted your happy life you've been living, did I not?"

"Maybe my perfect life needed a little disruption," Emma said before she even thought about it, shocked at the truth she felt in her own words.

It had been perfect. Too perfect. To unbelievable.

She looked to Killian to find him staring at her with a look of surprise at her words before nodding his head in understanding, "You've known for a while that something was off, didn't you, love?"

Emma stood to go rinse her glass out in the sink, avoiding his gaze, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, this," he said as he waved his hand around, gesturing to the apartment as a whole, "your life, you memories, Walsh, everything—you've suspected something was _off_ for some time now, haven't you?"

She was about to deny it to him when something inside her made her stop. Yes, she had felt like everything was too good to be true lately. Emma had just chocked it up to her inability to believe that she could ever find complete happiness. Sure she had Henry whom she loved dearly, but there was always something missing. Even when it came to memories of Henry, sometimes things that happened in her past with him seemed too distant, too clouded in her memory to be something completely true. Yet here, standing in her kitchen in her dark grey sweatpants was a man that she had no memory of ever knowing, but felt as thought she'd known him her whole life.

Emma placed the glass next to the sink and crossed the room to him. Killian stood up a bit straighter and looked around as if he wasn't sure of her motives, as if he might need some place to duck and hide depending on what she did next. She stopped right in front of him, looking deep into his eyes before searching his face for something, _anything_ to bring her memory of this man before her back. Killian held his breath. Having her this close to him took everything in his power to not reach out and wrap his arms around her. He knew she'd been upset tonight, seen the mark of tears that had been upon her face. Killian Jones knew, even if she'd denied it to him, part of her being upset was his presence in her life now. He disrupted her "good" life, as she had put it to him earlier in Central Park. Guilt seethed through his entire being, but he knew that Emma, his Swan, would not have wanted this false life, no matter how happy in blissful denial it had made her.

His heart clenched in his chest. He loved her. He'd known for some time that he had and probably had loved her from the very beginning, but had denied his emotions for a while, due to his past. Now, as she stood before him, looking into his very soul trying to remember him, he found he loved her even more. Even with a curse having stripped her memories before, he now knew, deep down, that she knew him, _remembered him_, even if it was only a ghost of a memory, buried deep within her. Killian flinched as she moved her hand to cup the side of his face, but he kept his arms at his side for fear of breaking this moment with her.

"Who are you?" she pleaded into the air, not directly at him, but spoken more to her own self, daring her mind to remember.

"Someone who loves you," he breathed as the emotions nearly choked him as he couldn't take it anymore and closed the distance between them and drew her into a kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

I do not own Once Upon a Time nor any of its characters. I merely love to write drabble about them.

Thank you to my readers, and yes, as some of you caught, the last line from chapter 4 was indeed homage to Return of the Jedi. I'd read where the writers felt as though our dear Captain and Emma were the "Han and Leia" of the show, so I decided that using one of their lines might be a bit fitting.

Without further ado, as usual, on with the show…

-Y&M-

It had nearly been a year. Killian Jones remembered living every second of it painfully: his heart shattering every morning that he woke up without her, his lungs robbing him of air when he'd thought that he might never see her again, his mind betraying him with dreams of her so vivid and real that he could have sworn they were his reality until he awoke, only to break all over again. He'd known the second they opened their eyes once the green smoke of magic had faded and the Enchanted Forest came into view, that he would not be able to stand idle and let things lie as they had supposedly been fated to do so. He knew he couldn't waste a second of time in trying to get back to her, for her sake, he'd convinced himself, as well as his own.

He remembered after going through the pleasantries with the Princess Aurora and her Prince Philip, that he sought out the Queen in order to seek answers in regards to his beloved ship, The Jolly Roger. The Queen, once evil and now, he thought, something inbetween, regarded him with sad eyes. The pain there behind them matching his own as she gave a knowing nod to him. She missed her lad as much as he did his Swan. In that moment, all the betrayal and harbored feelings of resentment and malice towards her erased from his mind. He saw that she was not the villain she had made herself out to be, just as he had himself. Nay, they were both broken, shattered reflections of the people they were supposed to be. Changed by grief and pain and jealously into the monsters that they had become in the past. Yet here they both were, striving to be better people amidst the chaos they'd been through, to spite it all for the one thing they both fought fiercely for…love.

Regina had once asked him if he'd believed they could ever have their happy endings since they'd both given their lives to villainy in the past. He'd told her he'd hoped so, or that they surely had wasted their lives. His own words had shocked him that day. He often wondered if in that moment he had given up his revenge on the imp, Rumpelstiltskin, and chose a greater cause, even though around every turn he was reminded that he was nothing more than a pirate. He wanted to prove them wrong, to prove to them all that somewhere deep within Captain Hook, Killian Jones still was there, buried deep beneath the surface and screaming to get out. So he asked the Queen if she'd thought that his ship might have also been brought over with the new curse they'd found themselves under.

"Your ship? Surely, Captain, you have better things to do than to go crawling back to your ship to go drown yourself in rum while pining for a woman you'll never see again?" she had commented without thinking, her eyes growing wide immediately in regret, her sharp tongue and usual sarcastic nature getting the better of her as she saw him flinch at her words physically. "I—I'm sorry, Hook. I wasn't thinking I…"

She shook her head, clearing questioning why she felt compelled to apologize to this pirate, but held her tongue all the same as she looked back to him, his blue eyes raw with the pain of loss. Her eyes softened before she continued.

"It should have returned along with the rest of us. The new curse would have returned anything and everything that did not belong in that realm, so I'm certain, Captain, it would be in one of the harbors nearby," she'd said as she then acted as though she was to take her leave but stopped and turned to ask him yet one more thing. "You know you can't go back, right?"

He remembered being slightly taken back by her perception. Yes, he'd known that he could travel between realms easily in his ship made of the wood of the Enchanted Forest. If it was here, surely he could use it in an attempt to get back to Emma, to bring her and her son back to her family.

"I would not be able to live with myself, your Majesty, if I did not at least try."

"But the curse—"

"Belay the curse!" he actually shouted at her, causing the Queen to stand up a bit straighter in defiance of him. "You cannot tell me that you would not want to see your lad again, Regina, so if I were you, I'd stay out of my way. You can be assured if I find Emma, I will bring Henry back with me as well."

He remembered the expression on her face change, sadness heavy in her next words she spoke to him in a small voice, "They won't remember you."

"Aye, I know," he stated resigned as he looked away from her. "I will have to try to help them remember, somehow…"

"Hook," the Queen began as she came around to face him. "If you see him, if you find Henry…can you—I mean will you tell him—"

"Yes," he said as he placed his hand on the Queens shoulder, noticing her tremble with the restrained emotions she held within. "I will tell him. I will remind him. He will remember you Regina. Maybe not immediately, but as much as the lad loves Emma, he also loves you. You have to know this to be true."

He watched as her face crumpled before she schooled her emotions from him, nodding fiercely in agreement with him and offering up a small smile, "Go. Find them. Bring them home, Captain."

He'd scoured the campsite for supplies after that, gathering enough to allow him to reach the northern most shores if he needed to. Killian remembered David, no, Prince Charming finding him packing up the last of his supplies on the horse that had been provided to him. He'd questioned him on the amount of supplies he was packing up and that it wasn't going to be a long ride to their castle. Killian remembered stamping down the emotion he'd felt at being touched that the Prince had merely assumed he would be living with them at the castle, as if already a part of their family. He couldn't let them know what he was up to, they would try to stop him, just as Regina almost had, the curse hanging over their heads heavily with the repercussions if they were to attempt break the price they had all paid to survive it.

And so he lied. He lied to David, a man he'd grown fond of over the last few months as if he were his own brother. He lied, stating that he needed to get back to his ship…back to being a pirate. He lied to Mary-Margaret, Princess Snow, claiming that being a hero just didn't stick, pushing them both to believe he was still Captain Hook, incapable of thinking about anything or anyone save his wretched self. Killian was almost convinced that they'd bought the lie, the very thought that it was that easy after all that they had been through wounding him more than he'd let on.

But he knew…he knew the instant he began to ride away, the knowing smile plastered across the smug Prince's face, that he'd seen through his lie and knew _exactly_ was he was up to. Charming had merely allowed him to ride away, accepting his choice in pursuing his missing daughter. The look on Charming's face burned into his memory, as it was not just one of knowing, but one of pride and acceptance. He truly believed it was almost as if the Prince in that moment had given him his blessing to court his daughter, trusting in him to bring her and his grandson home to them.

He remembered all of this and more as he now found himself here, in Emma Swan's apartment, in the other realm, within this city of New York. Against all doubts and mishaps that led him to this moment, he found he couldn't bear restraining his emotions from her any longer. He had promised not a day would go by that he wouldn't think of her, and he had kept it. He had dreamt of her every night. Killian had written letters to her that he kept in his safekeeping—hoping to someday give them all to her in person. Just as he had drawn Milah's visage all those years ago, he'd felt compelled to draw her as well, over and over, so as to remind himself of her face, her eyes, her lips…

Perhaps it was that he'd finally found her. Perhaps it was that he felt compelled to comfort her as her mind sought out memories that had been banished from her. Or perhaps it was the look in her eyes as she touched his face gently and held his face, her green eyes seeking out his soul for whom he was to her, that he just couldn't take it anymore and found himself confessing his love for her. Then, his body moving of its own accord, unable to hold back any longer, he was suddenly kissing her. Killian's mouth moved against hers as he held the back of her head gently with his one hand and he brought his arm around her back to pull her close. He'd felt her go rigid instantly, his fear that she would lash out at him as she had previously crashing down upon his shoulders and he began to pull back from the kiss—fearing he had once again overstepped his boundaries with her.

But then, life surprises us all sometimes, and Killian felt Emma suddenly run her hands around the back of his neck and pulling him back to her, deepening their kiss as she melded into him. She kissed him fiercely and his eyebrows shot up on his face in wonderment that this was really happening at all. He grazed his teeth and pulled on her lip as she then slid her tongue into his mouth, further deepening the kiss if it was possible as she pushed him up against the back of the couch. They kissed like that what seemed for a long while until they both had to come up for air, foreheads touching as they both found themselves gasping, their skin on fire from the contact with each other.

"Emma," her name was spoken like a prayer from his lips as he clung to her, shaking with emotion.

Emma's mind was reeling. He'd said he loved her. He'd kissed her. She allowed it and returned the kiss with all she had. Her legs felt like they were going to give out, she was shaking all over from the intensity of it all.

_Intense and…familiar_, she'd thought to herself as she still tried to calm her racing heart. She'd kissed him before. She knew she had the instant their lips touched. Maybe she knew it even before, when he'd first tried to kiss her in her apartment doorway. He'd kissed her before, she thought again, as suddenly a vision of thickly a thickly wooded forest entered her mind. No, not a forest, she thought, a jungle…

_I never thought that I'd be capable of __letting go of my first love_**_, _**_of my Milah. That is_**_, _**_until I met you__._

His voice within her head felt so real, it was as if he'd spoken it to her within the apartment.

"Emma?" she heard his voice asking her, concern that she had not responded yet to him after the kiss.

Emma gasped. Suddenly, she saw a vision of Killian on a vast boat, coming down the gangplank to meet her.

_I thought you didn't care about anyone but yourself_, she heard her voice ask him.

_Maybe I just needed reminding that I could._

Another flash, hitting her so swiftly that she reached out and grabbed onto Killian's shoulders in front of her.

_Please, you couldn't handle it, _again she heard herself say to him.

_Perhaps you're the one whom couldn't handle it._

"Emma?" his voice again in the present, now filled with concern and a sense of urgency.

Emma squeezed her eyes tight, tears slipping out from under her lids and falling down her face as Killian watched her helplessly, not knowing what was going on. She'd begun to breathe erratically and was clinging to his shoulders for dear life.

"Emma, please darling, you're scaring me say _something, anything,_" he pleaded with her as he held her.

Another wave of memories struck her, this time she found herself staring into his eyes as he screamed at her from being chained within a room glittering of gold.

_Swan! SWAN!_

"Mom?" she heard Henry's voice somewhere in the background, the concern in Killian's voice rousing the boy from sleep. "What's wrong with her? Mom?!"

Suddenly, another flash of memory that takes her to her knees in front of them both, this time Henry's voice triggering it. Fear for him overwhelming her as she looked at him, lifeless, lying in a hospital bed.

_I love you, Henry_, she heard her own voice say brokenly before she pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"Oh God," Emma cried out in anguish as she felt Killian pull her into his lap on her floor as she was still unable to shake the onslaught of memories that were hitting her.

_You found us, _she heard her mother's voice say through tears as she embraced Emma…her father's arms soon to follow around them both.

"Emma, love, Emma please, please look at me!" she heard Killian's voice screaming at her, muffled cries of Henry in the background as well as she felt Henry hold onto one of her hands.

"Mom, what's happening?" Henry's voice came, small and broken through tears that were now falling from his eyes in fear from her. "Help her, please!"

_Are you Emma Swan_, she heard Henry ask her in the doorway of a different apartment.

_Yeah, who are you?_

_My name's Henry. I'm your son._

That memory, the final catalyst, pushed Emma's mind over the edge. The realization that she had given Henry up crashing over her with such power that it robbed her of breath, sending a burning sensation throughout her chest. More glimpses of her parents, of Regina, Rumpelstiltskin, Belle, Ruby, Granny, the dwarves, and the rest of the residents of Storybrook flooded her memory. It was all too much all at once.

"EMMA!?" she heard Killian—Captain Hook's broken voice through the fog as her mind began to shut down. "Please, love, please come back to me."

Emma heard Henry now sobbing out loud in fear for her. She wanted to open her eyes, to tell them both she was okay, but everything was crashing down on her. Emma was hyperventilating and she felt her mind begin to cloud and go dark.

"Hook," she was all she said, her voice barely a whisper as she lost consciousness and went limp in Killian's arms.


	6. Chapter 6

I do not own Once Upon a Time nor any of its characters. I simply love to write about them getting into ridiculous situations.

A big thank you again to all my followers/favoriters of this story. A few of you had asked to hear of the back-story that led our dear Captain to finding his Emma again in the year they were apart. I plan on having this, as well as pieces of what happened to our other fairy tale alumni, woven into the story itself in the form of flashbacks, much like the actual show does as well. So keep reading and you will all see just how hard he fought and the sacrifices he made to get back to his Swan.

On with the show…

-Y&M-

Things were definitely not going the way he'd envisioned them to, Killian thought bitterly to himself. Who knew that-now twice-a kiss would end up in utter chaos? First when he'd tried it on Emma and she's kneed him in the groin, which was a _less_ than pleasant experience. Second when it caused her to collapse in his arms unable to handle the emotional turmoil that had gone on within her mind. He had not known at first what had been happening to her. Killian had never felt more helpless in his entire life as he watched tears streaming down her face as she half-mumbled intelligibility and clung to his shoulders for dear life.

_Oh God,_ had escaped her lips as her eyes flew upon and she'd sunk to her knees in front of him, her entire body shaking so hard he almost thought she was having some sort of fit. He remembered screaming her name, trying to wake her as she looked ahead, a look of almost terror as she watched something happening that only she could see. Then she collapsed fully into his arms, her head lolling back and eyes closing with his moniker on her lips.

And that's when he knew. He knew without a doubt in that moment what he'd just witnessed. Emma had gotten her memories back…all at once. Killian didn't know if he was more afraid for her before when he didn't know what was happening to her, or now, when he knew she had to deal with her entire life with Henry up to this last year, being a falsity.

Killian looked over to her in her bed where he'd placed her after she'd lost consciousness. If he wouldn't have known any better, he would have thought she was merely asleep. Henry had been beside himself, poor lad, when his mother had collapsed. The captain in Killian took over in that moment, ordering the boy to open his mother's bedroom door and that they had to lay her down. The authority in his voice snapped the boy out of his sobs as Killian remembered Henry merely nodding and opening the door as he rushed Emma inside and laid her gently upon the bed. Henry's anguish had returned to him not long after, leaving the pirate feeling even more helpless than before.

"Henry," he'd said as he kneeled down to his height with his hand on his shoulder. "Henry, look at me, lad."

Henry tore his eyes away from his mother's form and looked to the captain imploringly, "Is she gonna be okay? Shouldn't we call a doctor or something? What—what happened to her?"

"She's going to be fine, Henry," _I hope, please, gods, let her be okay._ "I think…I think she may have just started to remember the past. I think her memories hit her all at once, Henry, and her mind could not handle it."

His sniffling was slowly receding as he looked back to his mother again, "How do you know?"

Killian stood and glanced over at Emma, a wry smile on his lips, "She said my name."

"Your name?" Henry began as he went around the other side of the bed and sat upon it, cross-legged, next to his mother.

"Aye," Killian said as he pulled a cushioned chair from the corner of the room to Emma's bedside.

He watched the realization cross Henry's features with caution, not knowing what of his real name would tell him in this land where his memories had been tampered with.

"Hook…you…you're _Captain Hook_," he said wide-eyed as he looked at Killian like he was really seeing him for the first time.

"Aye, that I am, lad," he said, waiting to see how Henry would react at this revelation.

"Cool," he boy had merely said, appreciatively, before simply returning his attention to his mother, taking her hand in his. "How long do you think she will be out?"

"Cannot say. I've never known one to go through what your mother just had, so it may be a bit. You should rest, lad. I will watch over her to make sure she's alright."

The boy had nodded in agreement, but did not leave the room. Killian watched as he merely curled up next to Emma, still holding her hand as he fell asleep on her shoulder several minutes later. Killian had found a spare blanket in the room and covered the boy before going back into the kitchen to retrieve the rum and glass, knowing he would not be able to sleep so easily after what happened this night.

It was morning and light had slowly begun to creep through the curtains of Emma's bedroom window. Killian had polished off the remaining bit of rum while keeping an eye on Emma. He'd twice attempted to quietly rouse her by calling her name and pleading with her to wake up, to no avail. So here he sat, watching over her and Henry, as he found himself lacing his fingers through hers and absentmindedly rubbing circles with his thumb over the top of her hand. Even if she wasn't awake, he told himself, he'd at least try to comfort her.

"Hey," he jumped as he heard her groggy voice. "That sorta tickles you know."

She opened her green eyes and looked over at Killian—no—Captain Hook. He looked terrible with dark circles under his eyes, his black hair shooting out in every direction from his head, still dressed in only the sweatpants she'd lent him and his necklaces. _Terrible and beautiful_, Emma thought to herself, though, she'd never tell him that. Captain Hook had a big enough ego as it was. _Captain Hook…oh god…_

"Emma," she heard him begin as he knelt down closer to her beside the bed. "Are you okay, love? You scared Henry and I half to death—"

"How long?" she said as she looked over to find Henry lying beside her, fast asleep. "How long have we been…away?"

Killian's mouth formed a thin line bitterly before he spoke, his voice a whisper, "Almost a year."

"A year," she said, fighting back a sob as her face was still turned towards Henry.

"Swan, look at me," Killian asked as he gently took her face in his hand and turned it towards him.

Tears streamed silently down her face as she looked at him as her heart crumbled in her chest, "I abandoned him."

Dread filled Killian as he watched her fall apart in front of him. This was the moment he'd feared since he'd set out on his quest to bring her back—to help her regain her memories. The moment where she'd remember…everything, and in doing so, she would remember she'd given up Henry all those years ago. Killian shook his head 'no' to her and pulled her up into a sitting position into his arms, her head buried in the crook of his neck as she pulled her arms around him.

"I did. I didn't keep him, I let them take him from me," he heard her speak into his chest as he felt her tears burn down the skin of his neck.

"No, love," Killian said, as he pulled her back so he could look her in the eyes. "You merely were giving him his best chance. You've said so yourself and your lad knows this, Emma. He knows this and _accepts_ this and still loves you fiercely. You know this to be true. You awoke him with the kiss of True Love, darling. You cannot do that if both parties do not love one another absolutely."

Emma half-smiled, the memory there, but still slightly fuzzy from being muddled with the false ones in her head that were diminishing. She looked over to Henry and smiled, wiping the remaining tears from her face before leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead as he slept.

"Does he know? Did his memories return as well?" she asked Killian.

"Nay, when your memories returned that did not seem to affect your boy's, from what I could tell."

"Poor kid. Did he stay in here all night with me?" she asked as she moved to get off the bed and Killian stood.

"Aye, the boy did not want to leave your side," he said as he helped her to her feet.

Emma motioned for Killian to follow her out of the bedroom as she quietly closed the door behind her before speaking again.

"So how did this even happen?" Emma said as she made her way into the kitchen, the goal of making coffee top on her priority list.

"Do you not remember the curse that Pan—"

"No, that's not what I meant, I meant how did _this,_" she said motioning to her head. "How did I get my memories back? Did you slip some of that potion into my rum last night or-?"

"Swan, I'm wounded you would think I would even do such a thing," he began to banter with her, secretly a bit taken back that she would even accuse him of such.

"Killian," she glared at him, wanting a real answer.

"Emma, I'd told you before when you almost tried drinking the potion, it would not work until we cross the boundaries of Storybrooke," he said seriously to her as he stood in front of her, his blue eyes boring into her green ones.

"Then how could this even happen," she said, trying to push down how she felt at being so near to him when he was only wearing those ridiculous sweatpants. "How could it be broken so easily? Maybe Regina's slipping with her magic or maybe it was True—"

She stopped,wide-eyed, and looked up at Killian, Captain Hook, and a slight laughed escaped her lips.

"What?" he asked,feeling like he should be offended without knowing the reason why.

"You tried True Love's kiss on me, didn't you?" she said, her grin growing wider as she watched Killian step back and scratch the back of his neck.

"I did nothing of the sort," he lied to her, dodging the embarrassment he had in the question.

"Liar."

"Not."

"Yes you are," she almost giggled. "Fibber."

"What makes you think I'd believe we were True Loves anyways, Swan, hmm?" he asked with a cocky grin and a quirk of his eyebrow.

She'd missed this, she found herself thinking. She missed their banter without even knowing she missed it for this last year. It felt like…like coming home.

"I seem to remember you, almost in tears I might add, telling me," she began as she cleared her throat and attempted his accent, "_Not a day will go by that I will not think of you._ Wasn't that it, Captain?"

"You seemed pretty happy with that at the time, Princess," he said, invading her space a bit more as he pinned her to the kitchen counter, his face inches from hers.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" she said quietly, unable to quash down the feeling of his lower body being pressed up against hers.

"And why is that, love?"

"Who told you to try True Love's kiss?" she asked him.

"No one, I merely—"

"Killian," she began, not missing his physical reaction to her calling him by his true name, "True Love's kiss doesn't work on someone with no memory of the other."

His eyebrows shot up to his hairline, "And how do you know this?"

"Well, my father tried it on my mother when she'd been cursed to forget about him and got about the same reaction from her you got out of me, for starters. Sorry about that, by the way."

"Then how did you get your memories back?" he wondered, still trapping her against the countertop when the machine she'd been fiddling with earlier made a beeping noise.

"Ugh, finally," she said, as she wormed her way out of his grasp and grabbed two mugs from the cabinet and filled them both with hot coffee. "Here, this should help with the luggage under your eyes. Did you even sleep at all last night?"

"No," Killian said as he sniffed at the contents in the mug curiously. "I stayed watch in case you were to wake."

Emma smiled, "Thank you, you know."

"For what?"

"You know…just always being there for me. For coming back for me…for us. Even if I was a pain in the ass that pushed you away at first," she said sincerely as a grin spread warmly across his face.

"I will always come back for you, Emma. You should know that by now. No matter how hard you fight or push me away," he said as he pushed her hair behind her shoulder.

Emma knew he wasn't talking about just their present situation. Emma Swan knew he had fought tooth and nail since the first time she'd met him to convince her that he could be trusted, to convince her that he cared about her, to convince her that he loved her. And she knew he did. She knew he loved her with all this heart and soul.

"I know you will, Killian," she said as she placed her hand over his heart. "I…I think I've always known."

He smiled at her again, this one reminding her painfully of the last one he gave her before her's and Henry's life had previously vanished from them. _How could she so easily have forgotten him—forgotten everyone?_ Magic comes with a price, sometimes too high a price, she thought to herself as she thought about this last year with Henry where they'd lived oblivious to their missing memories, the missing people in their lives that they had just gained, she felt.

"Emma," he said breaking her out of her reverie. "We still don't know what returned your memories? Did it simply wear off or—"

"You really are further proving that you're an idiot today, Killian, you know that don't you?"

"Swan—"

"The kiss, Killian. The kiss broke the curse or spell or whatever you want to call what Regina put me under. It reminded me of…of Neverland."

Killian stared at her open mouthed at first, not knowing how to react to that. Emma took a big sip of her coffee and moved to the living room, a small grin on her face as she let him process what she'd just informed him of. She sat down on the couch, positioning herself so she could watch him process the information as she began to count to herself.

_One…_

"Emma the kiss? But you said the kiss doesn't work if the person doesn't remember the other one?"

"Yes, yes I did," she answered simply.

_Two…_

"But then how…?"

"I think maybe the first kiss started it—the memories, that is," she began, still continuing to watch him as he stood there in denial in the middle of her kitchen.

_Silly pirate._

"I told you after that that I knew I remembered you from somewhere, I just couldn't place it. It was like the answer was on the tip of my tongue or something," she shrugged and took another sip of her coffee to hide her grin.

_Three…_

"So you had begun to remember…to remember me," he said as she could see the puzzle pieces fit together in his mind. "The second kiss…"

_BINGO._

"Yup," she said as she popped the 'p' in the word.

The nefarious Captain Hook slowly walked over and sat beside her on the couch as she still hid behind her coffee mug. He took the mug from her hands and set it on the table. The grin was still on her face when he looked back to her and then he smiled rather wickedly at her.

"You know what this means, don't you, darling?" his voice a low almost predatory growl.

"Maybe," she said innocently as she shrugged, testing him. "We can't know for sure, I—"

"It means," he began as he crawled to hover over the top of her, "that you're _mine_, lass. You are my True Love."

"We don't know that," she said, as she rolled her eyes at him. "It didn't work like all the True Love kisses that I'd witnessed. You'd think…you'd…"

He licked his lips.

_I'm in trouble,_ Emma thought.

Killian leaned in as if to kiss her and came to a sudden halt when they heard a noise that made them both jump almost out of their skin.

Henry.

Henry was in the bedroom…_screaming_.

In a mass of tangled arms and legs, Emma and Killian jumped from the couch and ran into Emma's bedroom to find Henry thrashing in his sleep from a nightmare.

"Henry! Henry, baby, wake up!" Emma began as she took him into her arms trying to rouse him from sleep.

The boy suddenly sat straight up with a gasp, panting from being out of breath as if he'd been running for his life, "Mom? Mom, you're okay, you're here—I'm not—the room! Mom, the room!"

Emma held him tight and rocked him slightly, "its okay, kid. It's okay—you're okay. You're safe. We're here."

"But the room, Mom!" he said warningly, looking around at the room before him. "It was on FIRE. I swear it was on fire!"

Emma froze with Henry in her arms for a second and her eyes flicked to Killian whom frowned. She squeezed her arms tighter around Henry. She knew what this was. She knew what this could mean as well.

"Henry," she said as she held he sides of his face so he could look at her. "It wasn't this room. What did the room look like?"

"It, it was on fire and there were red curtains everywhere and I couldn't get out. I couldn't get out, Mom!" he said, still shaking from the dream.

"The Red Room," Killian said lowly as Emma nodded in agreement.

"You know what that was that I saw?" Henry asked him. "How could you know this?"

Killian looked to Emma for the answer, not knowing just how much she wanted revealed to him before he could properly get all of his memories back.

"Henry," she began. "You remember Killian was trying to help us get our memories back?"

The boy nodded as he wiped his face with the sleeve of his pajamas.

"Well, previously, you—" she stopped, not wanting to completely paint Regina in a bad light when he doesn't even remember her at all at this point. "You saved me by taking a curse that was meant for me and fell under a sleeping curse."

"But how do _you_ know this?" the words fell out of Henry's mouth before it clicked in his head. "You REMEMBER. He was right. When you collapsed last night. You were remembering."

Emma nodded as she hugged Henry and caught Killian's gaze over Henry's shoulder, "Yeah, kid. I do. I really do remember. What Killian's been telling us was true."

"But I don't get it," Henry began. "What does that have to do with my dreaming of the room that was on fire? Something to do with a sleeping curse?"

"In our realm, lad, when one whom was under a sleeping curse is awakened they will have dreams of this place…this room of fire, that feels as though it traps them there when they sleep. But it tis all a dream, lad. One that will fade with time."

"But what you're saying is, for now at least, whenever I go to sleep—"

"—you will be back in The Red Room, Henry," Killian said as he sat down on the bed next to them. "Henry?"

"Yes," he said, the resignation to his fate with these dreams in his voice.

"Your mother and I will not let harm come to you so you need not worry about that place," he said as he ruffled the boy's hair.

"Yeah, but you guys won't be in my dream when I'm having to deal with it will you?" Henry asked, his voice still defeated.

"Henry, if you start acting like you're having the nightmare again, we'll be right here. We'll try to wake you up to break you from that dream," Emma said as she rubbed her hand soothingly across the boy's back.

"I suppose. I still don't like it. Will it go away once I get my memories back?" he asked Killian who merely frowned.

"I don't believe it works that way, lad. In fact, I'm actually somewhat surprised you're having that dream now, since your memories have yet to-," he stopped himself, mid-sentence, a possibility entering his mind.

Emma read his expression and said it out loud, "He's getting his memories back, isn't he?"

"Aye, he might be. We won't know for sure, but this would have been part of his past that had been previously wiped from his mind."

Emma hugged Henry tightly to her. If Killian was right, then it was only a matter of time before Henry remembered everything. He would remember Storybrook, his grandparents, Regina, and most importantly, the one thing Emma feared most, Henry would remember that she gave him up, all those years ago.

"Mom," she heard Henry somewhat whine, "I'm okay now, really. You can stop squishing me like that."

Emma and Killian both let out a soft laugh as she relinquished her tight hold on the boy and he got up off the bed.

"So we're still going on the trip right?" Henry asked them.

"Yep, kid, you all packed up?" she said as she got up and starting taking her clothes for the day out of the closet in her room.

"Almost, I've just got a few more things and then I'll be ready," he started as he bounded off to his room, hurriedly packing the few remaining things he thought he couldn't live without, leaving Emma and Killian alone in her bedroom.

Emma stood and walked over to the window and drew the curtains back, gazing outside at the window. Killian followed her over, standing behind her as they both looked out to see that snow had begun to fall. He heard Emma sigh audibly as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"He's remembering. I know it," she said, still gazing out the window with her back to him.

"Whether by potion or not, love, we knew he would eventually."

"He's going to remember everything. How's he going to deal with that? Deal with everything?" she began as she felt his arms come around her from behind, pulling her back to him. "How's he going to deal with my having left him?"

"Love, we've been through this."

"I know, but what if he doesn't take it well the second time? What then, Killian? I can't lose him."

"Emma," he began, turning her to face him, the worry etched plainly in her features. "You will not lose Henry. He loves you just as much as you love him. He's a strong lad whom, once his memories do return, will remember _everything_, not just that you gave him what you thought was his best chance, but gave him the life that he had, filled with a family and friends not that he might not of otherwise had."

"How do you know this? You're just trying to convince me that—"

"No, Emma. I'm not trying anything. Your boy will remember everything and in doing so will come the memory of how you and everyone around him fought for him in Neverland. He will remember how you placed him first, above all else, in order to save him from that bastard Pan. He will remember you, my Swan, for the brave, wonderful, caring mother you have proven yourself to be for him, time and time again," Killian said to her, his words warming her heart and giving her hope.

_When did he learn just the right things to say to her?_

Emma nodded to him, accepting that things might just be okay as she then mentally schooled herself back to the things at hand, "Right. Well, we'd better get ready. Got a town to save and all, don't I?"

'Yes, love, _we_ do," he said, emphasizing the 'we' portion of what he said. "Just because you're the bloody Savior, darling, doesn't mean you have to always go at it alone."

She grinned wryly at him, knowing his words to be true. Emma Swan knew her pirate would indeed always have her back. _Her pirate, _she thought. _I'm in trouble._

Killian tilted her face up to him to place a sweet quick kiss upon her lips.

_I'm in so, so much trouble._

-Y&M-

Walsh watched from the rooftop across the street from Emma's apartment as she, Henry, and Captain Hook packed up her little yellow Bug. Anger gathering in him once again at his failure to keep the Savior under his watchful eye, knowing all to well the pirate must have convinced them to go to Storybrook somehow. This would definitely further complicate things. He had to get to them before they reached the town borders. The chance that the pirate would use the potion to restore her and Henry's memories would make it even harder to try to get close enough to them to take their hearts, let alone kill the pirate captain. Now, with their being mobile, it would make his job even more difficult, though.

"Damnit, Emma, why couldn't you have just stayed with me?" he mumbled under his breath, speaking to himself. "I even had grown to like you, if you can imagine. You could have stayed _alive_ and stayed out of all this. But no, he just HAD to show up and ruin all of my work."

In his anger, the carefully controlled magic that was keeping him in his human form began to waver as his hands shifted slightly in form to that of a steel gray, clawed hand. Walsh's eyes even flickered and glowed red in his anger before he realized what was happening. A slight gasp escaped his lips as he glanced down at his hands, now claws, realizing the error of his ways.

"Can't have that, now can we? What would her majesty think of you now, Walsh? A weak captain of the guards you are! Pull yourself together!" he shouted at himself as he began to stamp down his anger and his hands and eyes returned to their previous human form.

Walsh peered back into the spyglass to watch the car drive away, fighting his anger as he watched them go, knowing he would need to soon follow in order to track them properly. An inhuman growl escaping his lips as he collapsed the spyglass and headed back down to get to his car below.

"Oh, Captain," he said venomously to himself, a too-wide grin spreading across his face-his teeth formed briefly into fangs, as he stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the garage level floor. "How I'm thoroughly going to **enjoy** taking your life."


	7. Chapter 7

I do not own Once Upon a Time nor any of its fabulous characters. I am merely a scribe that likes to write of their adventures.

I do so love my reviewers, followers, favoriters! Thank you all for the support!

On with the show…

-Y&M-

It was strange to be crossing the town line of what Emma knew to be Storybrooke, Maine, and have the town itself be missing. There wasn't anything left that would have revealed that a town ever existed in this space near the coast of Maine. Emma had even pulled over to the side of the road and awakened a sleepy Killian to have him check his map to make sure she'd remembered correctly.

"Aye, this is the spot," he'd stated in a low voice, groggy from sleep, as he looked around at the sky through the car window, as if to check his bearings just to make sure. "This is the town's limits."

Their journey here had been a quiet one, as Emma did not want to waste time in getting here so she could get to the bottom of what was threatening her parents and friends back in the Enchanted Forest. She'd wanted to grill Killian about it, but thought otherwise with how tired he looked from the night before, the guilt of her being the cause of his sleeplessness not allowing her to have the heart to keep him from taking a nap on the way. He had not slept soundly though. Several times Emma saw him jump in his sleep, as if fighting something, a bit of information she would ask him later about so she could know what plagued his dreams, in case it was from events happening in the Enchanted Forest.

"So where to from here?" she asked as she got ready to take the car out of park when she felt his hand upon hers, stopping her.

"We take the rest of our journey on foot, I'm afraid, darling," he said with regret as the snow had really begun to come down on them at this point and it would not be warm outside the confines of the car.

"Ugh, you're kidding? We're not going to the docks to the Jol—" she began as he altogether too quickly cut her off.

"No, its here," he said as he once again opened the map across the dashboard of her car and pointed with his false hand to the 'x' that was marked upon it.

"It?" she asked, making another mental note to question him on the Jolly Roger when she had the chance.

"The wardrobe."

"Ah," she said as she rolled her eyes.

_The wardrobe. Of course. And we're going to find it by following a treasure map into to a forest…in the damn snow. Because that's normal for the child of Prince Charming and Snow White._

"The wardrobe's in the forest?" Henry asked, leaning forward into the front seat between them.

"Aye, lad, it tis, alone with a few other items that I'd brought for you and your mother," Killian began as Henry handed him his long coat and he opened the car to get out and put it on.

"Damn that wind is cold. Henry, make sure you put your heavy coat and scarf on before you go out there. Its freezing and I can't tell from Killian's map how long its going to take us to get to this wardrobe."

"I know, I know," she heard Henry from the back seat as he rummaged through the things he'd brought with him.

Emma got up and out of the car, coming around to the passenger side where Killian stood awaiting them. He was fidgeting with something from within the pockets of his coat and then pulled out and item Emma was all too familiar with…his hook. She watched as he deftly took off his false hand and replaced it with the hook in a few swift moves, the final 'click' of the hook going into place being the final bit.

"There," he said as he tapped the end of her nose affectionately with the hook. "That's better isn't it?"

Emma gave him a look as she rolled her eyes at him, a smile threatening, "Just not feel like yourself without that thing, huh, Captain?"

"You missed it, didn't you, Swan?" he purred as he, once again she thought, invaded her personal space.

A grin broke wide on Killian's face when he'd noticed something that had escaped him earlier in his weary when they'd initially boarded her vessel. He had missed something about the attire Emma had chosen for herself. Emma Swan was wearing his scarf.

"I don't know if you can miss a hook, Killian," she began as she watched him thread the scarf around his hook and he pulled it round her neck closer. "But I suppose, since its part of you, I may have missed it a little."

Killian stopped his playing with the scarf and gave her a quick knowing look before he noticed Henry had got out of the car and was coming round to join them.

"It's freezing out here!" he said as he stuffed his hands into his coat pockets and chattered his teeth.

"I know, kid. Killian, let get this show on the road if we're ever going to get warm again soon," she said as he motioned for them to follow him across the road and into the woods.

Killian searched a few of the trees on the outskirts of the area before finding on that had a large gash across it, which looked to have been suspiciously made by his hook, Emma surmised. Emma and Henry both then found themselves biting back a laugh as Killian actually started counting out paces, his strides ridiculously long, reminding Emma a bit of the Monty Python skit of the School of Weird Walks.

"…ten, eleven.." he was counting as he read the map, leading them deeper into the forest, the tree cover blocking most of the snow from coming down quiet as hard on them.

Henry let out a snort of laughter, unable to bear watching the pirate walk in this manner anymore. Killian Jones, Captain Hook, came to a halt and turned slightly to see the boy grinning at him.

"Have I done something to amuse you, lad?" he asked, slightly offended, and it was Emma's turn to snort, attempting to stifle a giggle at him.

"Is that _really_ necessary?" she asked as she came up beside him, placing her hand on his arm with a light squeeze.

"Is what really necessary?" he asked, still slightly befuddled what she and her lad were getting at.

"This," Emma began as she exaggerated her footsteps to prove a point, mimicking his walking paces as Henry burst into a fit of laughter behind them both.

"Swan," the nefarious Captain Hook began, his voice almost a whine if Emma wouldn't have known any better. "I'll have you know, darling, that this is the right and proper way to count out paces and if you ever want to reach—"

Their laughter and the pirate's speech was shorted by a loud and terrifying animal screech that echoed through the forest around them. Killian spun around scanning the area with Emma as they both brought Henry closer to them protectively. The pirate captain stuffed the map back into his coat interior and quickly pulled a dagger from within each of his boots, handing one to Emma whom took it gratefully.

"What was that?" Henry asked in hushed tones as the eerie quiet of the snowfall surrounded them as they waited.

"I don't know. That didn't sound like any forest animal I've ever heard," Emma said quietly, fearful that speaking any louder might give their position away to that…that _thing_, whatever it was.

"I've heard it before," Killian began as he moved with his arms wide as if to protect Emma and Henry both as he scanned the forest edge and circled them. "Tis not a sound I'd thought I'd hear in this realm. Nor one that I'd ever cared to hear again."

"Killian—"

"Shh!" he insisted to her as they all held their breath awaiting the inevitable.

Suddenly, causing all three of them to jump, came a voice to their right, "Hello, Emma."

They tuned to see Walsh standing there in the snow before them. He was simply wearing one of his suits, which Emma thought odd in this bitter cold and had not made a noise when he crept up on them.

"Walsh? Walsh what the hell are you…" her voice trailed off as she'd then noticed there were no footprints leading up to him in the snow. "How did you get here?"

Walsh took a step forward casually and Killian swung himself between Emma and Henry and Walsh.

"You will take no step further towards them, mate," Captain Hook threatened Walsh dangerously. "Swan, this man is NOT whom he's made himself out to be."

Walsh slowly raised his hands in the air as if a peace offering, "Emma, please. I came to take you home…to get you away from this…this mad man, Come on, honey. Just take my hand—"

"NO!" Killian bellowed at him, slicing the dagger at Walsh's arm and cutting it as the man screamed and crouched holding his arm.

Walsh's scream was not that of a human man's.

"Walsh?" came Henry's frightened voice. "Are you…are you okay?"

A wheezing noise came from the man crouched on the ground before them as they watched in horror as his arms and legs elongated and sprouted talons and feathers. His back pulsated briefly before wings tore out from his suit jacket and spread over his form. The last part of the transformation, Emma would never forget, as she watched him turn his face to her and grin a wide, toothy grin as his face transformed into a horrific grey demonic monkey form.

_A flying monkey!_

_WALSH IS A FLYING MONKEY!_

The flying monkey once known as Walsh, threw his head back and let out another blood curding screech, causing Henry and Emma to cover their ears at its intensity. The monkey then took to flight, shooting up several feet into the air before it turned and dove at the group below.

"Get down!" Killian shouted to Emma and Henry as he shoved them out of harms way and prepared to engage the animal as it came at him, talons and pointed teeth bared.

"Killian!" Henry screamed in fear for the man, breaking Killian's concentration just long enough to have Walsh lance his shoulder with his talons, knocking the pirate sideways.

"Stay over there!" Killian shouted back to Henry and Emma, locking eyes with her in warning to keep the lad out of harms way as he prepared for the second attack from Walsh.

Another ear shattering screech filled the air as Walsh came hurtling towards Killian, whom was ready for him this time.

"Its time we ended this, you flying git!" he spat as he deftly moved to the side, out of Walsh's attack, piercing and grabbing the monkey's wing with his hook as he brought the dagger in his other hand round and up into the monkey's chest, pinning the creature into the snow covered ground below.

Emma turned Henry around, pulling his face into her shoulder to avoid his seeing the garish scene before them. Walsh screeched again and writhed beneath the dagger's hilt on the ground below, blood spurting from deep within his throat as he clawed at the 300-year old pirate captain, whom merely leaned down next to the monster, a leer on his face as his next words escaped his lips with venom at the beast that tried to hurt his Swan and her boy.

"You were right, mate," he said near Walsh's ear as the red eyes of the beast locked angrily on the pirate. "It tis better with my hook."

Captain Hook proceeded then to rip out the creature's throat in one swift movement with his hook.

Emma stood stunned as the blood poured out of the monkey staining the snow below. Killian rose from where he'd been and walked over to Emma, seemingly unphased from the violence that had just occurred before them. He'd killed Walsh with fighting moves almost graceful to watch, Emma thought to herself, as she was reminded that this man before her was Captain Hook whom had lived for over 300 years and seen his share of violence.

"Are you both unharmed?" he asked breathlessly, still scanning the area around them to make sure this was to be their only attacker.

Emma just stared at him for a few moments. Her silence causing him to stop checking the area and lock eyes with her concerned.

"Emma, are you both unharmed?"

"Are _we _alright?" she began as Henry turned around in her arms to look at Killian. "Killian, your shoulder—"

"I'm fine, Swan," he started as she glared at him and grabbed his arm.

"No. No, you're not," she said as she pulled back the lapel of his coat to look underneath at the damage that the talons had done.

He inhaled in pain swiftly and took his coat from her hands and pulled it back in place, "Emma, please. I will be fine. We need to get to the wardrobe. I have some things buried near there that can help protect us in case of another attack."

"Promise me you'll let me look at that once we're there and settled," she glared at him, daring him to tell her no.

"I promise, Emma. Now please, we need to get you and your lad out of the cold," he said as he looked to Henry only to find him staring at the corpse of the flying monkey across the way from them. "Henry…"

"He was going to kill us," the boy said in hushed tones as his voice shook.

"He can't hurt us anymore, lad," Killian said as he knelt in front of the boy, blocking his view of the gruesome scene in front of him.

"Its all real, isn't it?" he began, his memories still not fully returned to him, but the lad was now altogether acutely aware of the gravity of the situation they were in.

"Aye, Henry."

"You're going to be okay, though, right?" he asked as a warm smile fleeted across Killian's features.

"Aye, lad, I will. Let's get you and your mother back to your family."

Killian led Emma and Henry a while through the forest in silence while he and Emma both kept a wary eye on their surroundings, not wanting another attack to catch them off guard. After walking for several minutes, they came upon a slight clearing in the thick wood where a tall object near a great tree stood, covered with what looked to be a large, snow-covered tapestry.

"Is that it?" Henry asked excitedly, as he was happy to finally have found it as the cold had been getting to them all.

The boy pulled upon the tapestry to reveal a colorful wardrobe, vast in size, that stood out harshly against the snow and woods that surrounded them. Henry gave an awestruck look to it all as Emma watched Killian dig around the left side of the object, revealing a large sack full of items. She looked back to the wardrobe that seemed to be made up of mismatched pieces of wood, oddly painted in yellow, red, and blues.

"Nice paint-job," she mumbled to herself as Killian came over with the bag to reveal its contents to him.

"For you, my lady," he said as he handed her the sword of Neal's that he'd given her in Neverland to wield.

"Now this I'd missed," she said as she sling the sword over her shoulder with a grin to him that he'd returned. "Hey, what got into Geppetto and the paint job on the wardrobe this time?"

"Come again, Swan?" he said as he handed a smaller sword to Henry whom grinned from ear to ear. "From your grandfather, Henry."

"Cool!" the boy said as he pulled the sword from its sheath and swung it about excitedly.

"The wood, its painted all haphazardly as if—" she began as her words caught in her throat.

Emma recognized the colors on the wardrobe. She'd seen them before.

"Killian," she said breathlessly, fear in her voice.

"What is it?" he asked as he came up to her, holding his shoulder as the pain was beginning to get to him.

"Where did you find enchanted wood?"

Killian's face fell as he looked to the ground, unable to meet her eyes.

"Killian—you didn't…" she said as she lifted his chin, forcing him to look at her. "The Jolly—"

"It was the only way, Emma," he began almost apologetically. "I'd tear the world itself apart to get back to you, my Swan."

"You had them tear apart The Jolly Roger…your home…to make the wardrobe."


	8. Chapter 8

I do not own any bit of Once Upon a Time or any of its characters, that I dearly love.

A lot of you felt as I did upon the revelation that our dear Captain Hook used the enchanted wood of his beloved Jolly Roger to have Geppetto craft a new wardrobe large enough to bring Emma and Henry home. Honestly, I debated this scenario a long while when I first had the idea for this story, this sacrifice being one of the initial thoughts I'd had for the direction the fic would go.

Despair not, fair readers, for if we've learned anything from this show or from any fairy tales, there is one constant throughout…hope. Though yes, the Jolly Roger is gone presently…it may not be gone for good…

So chin up…and enjoy the show!

-Y&M-

_Several months ago…in the Enchanted Forest…_

It had not taken long for Captain Hook to be reunited with his ship, The Jolly Roger, upon re-entering the Enchanted Forest. Just as Regina had surmised, the ship was in on of the harbors near the north shore. Her crew intact, Hook wasted no time in beginning the search to find a way to, once again, open a portal to go back the other realm…back to Emma. He'd gone so far as to seek out Anton and have him join his crew in an effort to try to bring back the magic beans, but to no avail. The ones that had been transported and used in the other realm, in Storybrooke, being the last remnants of the magical seeds left from what they'd discovered.

Hook had taken to drinking again, in his despair at not finding a way back, his nights spent in a rum-induced stupor as he attempted to drink away his sorrow. The irony that the rum would sink him into sleep, where Emma plagued his dreams, time and time again. She would come to him as a siren, sometimes, her swan-song luring him into the depths of the ocean below. He'd dream of her smile, of her voice, of her touch—glimpses of the small moments they'd shared. He knew, within his heart, that he'd never truly been able to tell if she reciprocated his feelings for her, another torture full of what-ifs that would again torture his mind both in and out of dreams.

He had but her last words to him to spur him on. He'd known that Emma Swan was not one to give out hope so easily, for she knew what it meant in its full ramifications. He'd seen it in her face, the tightly held emotions and the unspoken words between them in their last moments together.

_Good._

He held onto that and the future that he might have had with her that haunted his dreams. Killian Jones felt his heart crushing him, knowing that in not finding a way back to her, he had somehow failed his Swan. His crew had begun to worry about him as they watched their captain return to the man they had seen years ago…the man that he had become after Milah's death. He was reckless during the day, throwing himself into fight after fight as he still searched for a way back to the other realm. Captain Hook was threatening anyone for information of how to get back, losing control when he didn't find the answers he was seeking.

The crew had discussed it amongst themselves one night and Mister Smee had taken it upon himself to approach the captain about it…and almost lost his life in the process…

"Captain?" came Smee's voice from the other side of the captain's quarter's door.

"What is it, Smee?" a slurred growl came from Hook from within the cabin.

Smee took off his hat and wrung it in his hands nervously as he summed up his courage to open the door. He'd known the captain since the time he was but a mere lieutenant, serving under his brother, Liam's, captaincy all those years ago. Smee knew this man was a good man, deep down under the anguish and pain and loss that had brought him to whom he was today. He knew, also, that this present behavior was the result of his captain losing something he loved yet again. They'd all known it. From the moment they'd turned the Jolly Roger around back in Storybrooke in order to help retrieve the Swan girl's boy from Neverland, they all knew he had fallen hard and fast for her. The crew all loved the Swan girl all the more for it, for she and she alone had brought back Killian Jones, the man they'd know so very long ago.

"Cap-Captain?" Smee said as he slowly opened the door and peered into the dimly-lit room.

"What do you want, Smee? Can't you see I'm busy?" Hook said as he came into full view, sitting at his desk nursing what could only have been the second bottle of rum for the night.

Smee's face crumpled at the site of before him. He could tell even in this dim candlelight that the captain's eyes were rimmed red from being upset earlier, the kohl beneath his eyes smudged from being wiped away roughly.

"Well?" Hook growled at him, slamming the bottle of rum on the desk loudly, causing Smee to jump. "Out with it!"

"You have to stop this, Cap'n," Smee began tentatively as Hook stood and glared at the man. "You'll drink yerself ta Davey Jones' locker, sir."

Before he could even think, Smee suddenly found himself pinned upside the wall, the cold steel of a hook threatening to pierce his throat, "What makes you think you've the right to speak in this manner to your captain, Smee? How dare you—"

"She wouldn't want you to do this to-to yerself, Cap'n. Please," Smee interrupted in a small voice as he watched Hook's eyes widen and he dropped the small man back to the ground and backed away from him. "Emma'd be beside herself if she was to see you like this. We, the crew, don't like ta see ya like this, Capt'n. Please."

Smee watched as Hook merely stared at him for a few moments afterwards, his face hidden in the shadows where he could not read his captain's reactions. Smee cautiously picked himself back up off the ground. He again wrung his hat, a habit he had out of nervousness, while he darted his eyes around the room, attempting to think of the next words to say.

"Get out," Captain Hook stated to him in hushed tones, no anger within his words, Smee noted.

No, his voice was not angry, but it gave off the distinctive note of sorrow that broke Smee's heart for the man.

"But, Captain, please—"

"GET OUT!" Hook now bellowed at him as he actually picked the man up with his hand and hook and hurled him out the door in to the opposite wall, slamming the door in his face.

Smee stared from where he now sat in the walkway outside the captain's door in surprise at being thrown out. He could hear the captain directly on the other side of the door and decided in that moment to say his peace before taking his leave this night.

"Somewhere in there is the man I once knew," Smee began, Hook hearing his voice on the other side.

Hook rested his forehead against the door, resigned that his first mate wasn't going to let go of this until he'd said what he came for as he listened to the man. He sighed as he listened him continue, resting his hand and hook above his head against the door.

"We'd missed him for so long, sir, for while we'd never thought we'd see him again. Somewhere in there our Cap'n, Killian Jones, lives within you, sir. He briefly came back when you'd gone back to Neverland to find the boy. But this new curse, this _separation_, has taken him away, sir. Emma Swan had brought out the best in you, Cap'n. She brought _you_ back to us."

Hook closed his eyes but remained quiet as he listened to the man's words. He did not trust his voice to not betray his emotions were he to speak.

"Something we think you didn't realize, beggin your pardon, Cap'n, was that we miss her too. She _saved _you…and in turn, saved us by bringin' back our Cap'n, sir. So please…please don't do this ta yerself, sir. You have to have hope. And if'n ya ever hope to return to your Swan again, ya cannot drink yerself into oblivion before doing so," Smee finished as he patted his hand to the outside of the door and smiled sadly before returning to the deck above.

Killian Jones fell to his knees on the other side of the door. He knew Smee's words to be true. She had saved him. Emma Swan had saved him from himself, made him part of something bigger, and made him whole again. He knew she'd be abhorred at his behavior as of recent, probably would have yelled at him until he'd snapped out of it, he mused, remembering her fire. A small laugh escaped his lips.

"Oh, Emma, bloody hell, woman, what have you done to me?" he asked into the empty space of the cabin.

It was the next morning, after Killian had slept off what was one of many previous hangovers that he'd suffered from as of recent, when the crew of the Jolly Roger would be pleasantly surprised. Mister Smee watched as his captain came topside to stand behind the helm with seemingly renewed vigor and drive. Killian spied Smee out of the corner of his eye approach him tentatively as he came to stand behind him.

"Cap'n, about last…about last night," the man began to stammer, clearly fearing his life may be at stake this morning after his boldness in speaking to the captain in the manner he had. "I'd—I'd like to apologize—"

"Mister Smee," Killian interrupted him as he slightly turned towards the man, a hook still on the wheel.

"Aye, Cap'n?"

Killian regarding him briefly, slight amusement at delaying the inevitable, as he watched the man squirm beneath his gaze. He was also amused at how the man jumped like a rabbit when he laid a strong hand on his shoulder before he spoke to him in tones that Smee and Smee, alone, would hear.

"Thank you," Captain Killian Jones said sincerely as he locked eyes with the man.

He watched as the realization dawned on the man's round face and a smile broke across his features, "Aye, Cap'n. You are welcome, sir."

The crew of The Jolly Roger had their captain back. Killian Jones had his hope back.

Fate has a funny way of working sometimes as it was that very next day, while manning the helm that a small blue bird landed on the rail of the deck near the captain. The bird went unnoticed for several minutes before it broke out into chirping a song, as if to gain the attention of someone, anyone, that would listen to it. Curious, Captain Jones motioned for Smee to watch the helm as he went to investigate the bird. Surprisingly, the bird, as he came closer to it, rather than flying away, flew over to land on his hook.

"Now, aren't you a pretty thing?" he asked it as he rubbed under its chin and it twittered away at him.

It was then that he noticed the bird had something tied to its leg. Being careful not to injure the creature, he deftly untied the piece of parchment that was wrapped ever so carefully around the bird's leg. Once the paper was fully removed, the bird suddenly took to the skies and flew away into the horizon, its blue color blending into the sky and ocean below. Killian unfurled the parchment carefully, his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline in surprise at what it was.

A message.

A summons from the royal house of Prince Charming, Snow White, and the Queen.

They were in danger from a new adversary, a witch, from what it described and they had sent a summons for his help.

"What is it, Cap'n?" Smee's voice came from over near the helm.

"It seems we've been summoned by royal command, Mister Smee," Captain Jones stated as he came over to take back the helm.

"Trouble?"

"Aren't the Charmings always in trouble, Mister Smee?" the captain said with a wry grin as he turned the helm abruptly, heading the Jolly Roger back to the castle at the edge of the Enchanted Forest.

-Y&M-

They'd sailed at top-speed and reached the castle in record time. After a brief but warm greeting by the Prince and Snow White, Killian found himself thrust into one war council meeting after another. They weren't getting anywhere. No one knew why the Wicked Witch of the West had attacked them and tried to take over the kingdom. They'd all learned from Regina that apparently the witch claimed to be her sister after a snide remark from her about that being an impossibility given her skin complexion. Killian remembered shaking his head at that revelation and wondering to himself if anyone he met in the Enchanted Forest wasn't somehow related to one another.

Another revelation was that there were whispers that the Dark One had returned and was under her control, a fact Killian wasn't sure how he felt about. On one hand, a small part of his older self was inflamed to learn that the man whom had killed his Milah before his very eyes was once again alive. On the other hand, though, Killian admitted to himself that Rumpelstiltskin was not the same crocodile that he'd sought vengeance after all those years ago. The man had sacrificed himself for the entire town in order to save them from that bastard Pan. The real issue in all of this was if the witch herself had brought him back from the grips of death, this meant this woman was more powerful than any magical being they had ever encountered and if she held the Dark One's dagger, well that made her all the more dangerous.

The conversations always seemed to lean towards the same thing. It didn't take any amount of intelligence to pick up on the fact that everyone thought that the one person none of them dare speak about was the one that they needed the most. They needed the Savior. They needed Emma Swan, a fact Killian felt his heart drop at. Between the fighting they all did with the crazed flying monkey's of the witch's and the council meetings, he'd been still seeking a way back to them, secretly. Regina was the only one to conspire with him, the both of them knowing the Charmings would not want them to pursue this endeavor. They would want their daughter safe and away from the chaos they all now found themselves in. Killian had no want to bring his Swan back, only to place her in danger, but he knew, within his heart of hearts, that she would feel betrayed by them all that she was not make aware of the danger her family was in.

So it was during one of these meetings, as the dwarves bickered with each other, Snow White and Regina having a heated conversation about the use of magic or not, and Charming doing his best to keep them all civilized; that Killian had spied Geppetto sitting quietly in the back of the room, taking it all in, and it hit him. He knew with a wide realization, exactly how he could get back to his Swan. Geppetto saw the pirate captain watching him and shot him a curious glance, one that he merely had a hand from the captain motion for him to be quiet as he watched Killian slowly stand before them all. The Prince, whom sat to the left of the pirate, watched him with curiosity as the man began to speak, his voice going unheard amidst the chaos of conversation within the room. Killian shook his head and then suddenly brought his fist down upon the council table, causing the pieces on the map before them, representing the various armies of the witch, to topple over and scatter aimlessly.

The group within the room fell hushed as they looked expectantly at Killian whom merely shook his head, again, before he began to speak, hoping he wasn't going to regret what he was about to say to them.

"I know how to reach Emma," he simply stated, still looking down at the table as he twirled one of the markers between his fingers.

A slight gasp reverberated through the council room as Charming shot up from where he was seated, "What? How? Hook, we need to keep Emma and Henry as far away from—"

"Do we?" he asked almost accusingly to the Prince. "I've been here naught but a few weeks and I can hear it in every conversation that happens round this table. You may not wish your daughter to be here, your majesty, but you _need_ her if we are ever able to defeat this witch."

"Hook," Snow White said as she shook her head no as she also stood before them, her stomach only just now beginning to show with child. "We can't risk bringing her here…even if we could, there isn't a way. The curse—"

"Aye, the curse. Always a damn bloody curse bringing all manner of chaos and pain upon us. Do you think for one second that she's actually safe from this demon-woman that plagues us? Just because she's in another realm…?" Killian asked her as a look of horror struck her porcelain features.

"Hook," Charming warned before he felt his wife place a hand upon his arm.

"He's right, Charming," she said in a small voice. "Oh, how didn't we think of this before? If Cora was able to cross realms, than with the power this witch has that we've already seen, she could get to Emma too."

Killian felt his hand close tighter around the marker he'd held within his hand, cursing his mind for coming to that realization as well mere seconds before he'd spoken it. They may have not discussed Emma openly at the council meetings, but the word of the Savior surely had reached the Wicked Witch's ears by now, and if it had, she would know Emma to be a threat to her…a powerful threat. The pirate captain was now all the more determined that he had to reach her, to bring her back…if for hers and Henry's safety alone.

"I will tell you how we can retrieve your daughter, your majesties, but only if I am guaranteed two conditions," Killian began.

"But—," Snow began only to have her husband cut her off as he took her hand in his.

"Name them," Charming said to the captain.

"My first condition would be that my crew would be taken care of completely, as if we are to get the Savior back," he began, hating his reference to Emma as 'the Savior' on his lips, for he knew she did not relish the title, "then they will lose their home,"

"Captain!" Smee said alarmed from the back of the room as Killian motioned to him to keep his mouth shut.

"Hook," Snow began realizing where Hook was going with his line of thinking, "what—what are you saying?"

"Geppetto, in order to construct another wardrobe, how much wood from the Enchanted Forest would you require?" Killian asked the elder man, ignoring Snow as the room all began to realize his plan.

Geppetto stood from the corner to speak, "It would take a great amount to construct a wardrobe that would be able to carry at least three people."

"You know of my ship, The Jolly Roger, do you not, carpenter?"

"Yes, yes I know your ship."

"My ship is made completely of wood from the enchanted trees of that very forest. If I were to relinquish her to you, would that be enough?"

Geppetto's eyes grew wide before he looked down to do the calculations in his head, "Yes, yes I believe so, but…"

"Than she's yours," Killian stated, gasps from his crew and others within the room.

"Hook, are you sure about this?" Charming's voice came from beside him as he felt the man put his hand upon his forearm.

"Never been more certain about anything in my life, mate," he said with a sad grin as he looked the Prince in the eyes. "But you haven't said if you'd agreed to my conditions, yet, your majesty."

"Of course you and your crew will be taken care of, Captain," the Prince stated loud enough for the room to hear.

"Nay, just my crew, your majesty, which brings me to my second condition," Killian said as he fiddled with his hook.

"Which is?" Charming asked him, almost afraid to ask.

"My second condition is that I am to be the one whom gets to go and get our dear Emma back."


	9. Chapter 9

I do not own Once Upon a Time nor any of its characters. I do, however, like to write about them getting up to all sorts of shenanigans.

Thank you again to all of my followers, favoriters, and reviewers! It really means a lot to me…

And now, without further ado, on with the show…

-Y&M-

_Present day in what used to be Storybrooke, Maine…_

He had torn apart the Jolly Roger for her and Henry. Killian Jones had given up his very home of 300 or so years in order to reunite her and her son with their family. Emma Swan was rendered speechless as she just stared, open-mouthed, at him. The words 'thank you' seeming somehow insufficient and inadequate for a sacrifice so great. Killian's mouth formed a grim line as he watched the emotions play out on her face. He had indeed given up his home of many years, a decision he'd come to quickly and with no regrets, as it had allowed him to be here, standing in front of the woman he knew he'd loved with his entire being. Though his ship held many memories of Liam, Milah, and even his Swan one their journey to Neverland, it was, after all, just a ship.

It was a _magnificent _ship, he thought to himself.

"Why?" Emma asked him, the only word falling from her lips, barely a whisper.

"Why did I do it?" he asked her as he took a step towards her, once again invading and claiming her personal space as his own.

"Why," she started, again, as she took his necklaces in her gloved hand and pulled on them slightly, bringing him even closer to her, "would you do this when you knew we wouldn't remember you…couldn't remember you? It was a risk coming here and you knew it, Killian, so why give up the Jolly? And don't tell me it's just a ship, cause we both know that's not true. Hell, I'm actually sad that she's gone, and I only lived on her while we went to Neverland, but nevertheless, she kept us safe through a lot and helped bring Henry home."

She watched as the sweetest smile played across his lips. Killian was touched that Emma would even remotely think of his ship in that manner.

"I will not say that I do not miss her, Swan," he began, his face merely inches from hers as she watched him look to her lips and then lick his own. "but alas, she is…_was_ just a ship. Ships can be repaired. Ships can be replaced…but you, my beautiful Swan…"

Killian pressed his lips gently to hers, sweetly, before finishing his sentence,"…cannot be replaced."

Emma let out what sounded like a sob before wrapping her arms around his waist and placing her head against his chest, "Thank you."

He wrapped his good arm around her and kissed the top of her head, "I would do anything for you, Emma. You must know this by now."

"I know," she said into his chest as she brought her head up and kissed his neck. "It's just hard, sometimes, for me to believe it, you know?"

"Aye, love," he said as he kissed the top of her head once again, angry at all the people that had disappointed and failed her over the years, wishing silently that he could banish those memories and the pain they caused her with them. "You have naught to worry about that any longer, though, Emma. I'm here and I'm not leaving yours or Henry's side, understood?"

Emma nodded as she released him, but not before shooting him a smile that made his heart constrict in his chest, "Henry, come over here."

"Yeah?" the boy asked as he sheathed his sword reluctantly, enjoying it entirely too much, and came over to stand beside them.

"We need to get your memories back before we go through the wardrobe to the Enchanted Forest," she began, realizing how ridiculous her sentence sounded within her own ears as she watched Henry's reaction.

He smiled slightly, knowing his mother's concern for him, but also knowing, through all that he'd witnessed and the few fragments he was starting to remember, that this was, indeed altogether very real, "So what do I do?"

Emma turned to Killian to find him holding his shoulder again, his face drawn in pain and paler than normal. She also noticed that blood had been dripping off his hook, with what she'd thought was Walsh's originally, but it was actually from the wound on his shoulder, running down his arm to drop into the white snow below.

"Jesus, Killian, how bad did he get you?" she asked as she gently pulled his coat back and down his shoulder, his breath hissing between his teeth at the pain the movement caused.

Emma's eyes widened at the site of his wound. The thickness of the leather of his coat had slightly masked the true damage the pirate had taken from the attack. A large, deep gash ran from the middle of his collarbone across to his arm as it bled down his side and arm. Emma looked up to Killian with wide eyes as he met hers grimly. He'd known his injury wasn't good, but he'd survived far worse and didn't want to worry her while they were away from any one whom could tend to a wound that deep. Walsh had to have got his talon up underneath the coat before lancing Killian's shoulder as his leather coat would have protected him from the gash that deep and his coat was still undamaged.

Killian took Emma's hand in his and gently pulled it away from his long coat before pulling his coat back up to mask his wound, "I will be fine, Swan. We'll tend to it once we're in the Enchanted Forest with the others."

"Killian—"

"Swan," he said as he put his hand to the side of her face to force her to look him directly in the eyes. "I will be fine."

He watched her attempt to push the worry away as she nodded reluctantly, knowing they were miles away from any medical help and even if they were able to run to the next town to get him help, that it would cause more questions and problems and deter them from getting to her parents quickly. She didn't have to like it, but Emma knew, just as much as he did, with a wound like that, there wasn't a lot she could do for him at the moment. It needed stitches in order to close it and with where the wound was, it wasn't as if she could tie it off to control the blood flow to it. She sighed, worry still coursing through her as he gave her a half-smile and squeezed her shoulder, reassuringly.

Emma then watched as Killian searched within the pockets of his coat to reveal the vial containing the potion and a small, what looked to be a shot glass. He pulled the cork from the vial with his teeth and carefully filled the shot glass with a glowing purple mixture that seemed to shimmer as the light caught it.

"Whoa, is that the potion?" Henry asked as he came closer to see the light dance within the mixture in the light that surrounded them.

"Aye, lad, it tis," he said as he handed the filled glass gently to Henry whom took it carefully from him before he recorked the vial.

"Will he have the same reaction I did to getting his memories back?" Emma asked Killian with a bit of alarm in thinking back to how her memories struck her so quickly.

"Regina created this potion with enough for the both of you and had reassured me that it would be merely like waking up, as opposed to…" he trailed off, remembering the fear that had befell her as he'd watched her, helplessly, as she'd regained her memories. "He will not suffer, Emma."

Emma nodded to him, knowing that Regina would have done everything in her power to make Henry's regaining his memories as easy as possible. She turned to her son and smiled at him, a sad tinge to it. This was it. This was the moment she had been dreading secretly. This was the moment when Henry would remember everything and in doing so would come with it the memory of her giving him up. She placed her arm around his shoulder gently so as not to spill the liquid he held within the glass and kissed the top of his head.

"It'll be okay, Henry. Killian and I will not let anything bad happen to you, alright?" she asked him.

"I know, Mom," he said as he nodded, not quite understanding why she looked so sad at this moment when he would be getting back the memories he'd lost.

"I love you, kid," she said, trying desperately to control the emotions that were threatening to surface as her chin quivered slightly.

"I know, Mom. I love you too. This won't change that, you know, right?" Henry asked her, still confused by her mood as she gave him a watery smile and kissed his forehead.

"I know, kiddo," Emma said with a sigh. "I know."

"We'll be right here, Henry. You will need to swallow the potion in one drink and then your memories that you have lost will return to you as if you were waking from a dream," Killian began as he took Emma's hand and pulled her over to him, half-embracing her as the both of them prepared for what was to come.

"Okay," Henry said as he braced himself. "Here it goes."

Emma closed her eyes as Killian pulled his arm around her tighter as Henry swallowed the entire contents of the glass. Killian watched as the boy also closed his eyes and a small smile crept upon his lips as he stayed like that, unmoving as a shimmering purple glow passed over the boy's entire form.

"Henry?" Killian asked him as Emma also turned around to watch her son.

Henry didn't move.

"Henry?" Emma asked, her arm extended towards him as he still remained rigid with a smile upon his face and his eyes closed.

They watched as the boy opened his mouth and exhaled loudly, the cold making them see this breath within the air, before he suddenly crumpled to the snow below.

"HENRY!" Emma screamed as she and Killian knelt beside him and she pulled him into her arms. "Come on, baby, _wake up!"_

For a few minutes, that seemed like a lifetime to Emma and Killian, Henry stayed just like that, motionless and unresponsive to Emma's and now Killian's cries of his name. Then, suddenly, his eyes flew open and he sat upright and looked around as if confused by his surroundings and where he was.

"Mom?" he asked her.

"Yeah, oh god, Henry, are you okay?" she said through tears as she squeezed him tight to her chest and Killian let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah," the boy began looking around still slightly dazed. "I—I think so."

"Did it work? What do you remember?" Emma asked him as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Remember?" he began as he looked around, again seeming confused. "Mom, how did we get here?"

Emma blinked at that, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, the curse…the curse was coming and the last thing I remember was getting into the car and driving off but it was sunny out and now…its freezing out here and there's snow. What—what is going on? Why is Captain Hook here?"

Killian and Emma exchanged a knowing look. Regina had not only created a cure that would restore his memories, but it also wiped the ones of the recent year that she and Henry had together. Emma didn't know whether to laugh or cry. On one hand, it was a blessing in disguise, as Henry wouldn't have remembered the false life where he had grown up his entire life with Emma being in it, but on he other hand…he was missing an entire year of his life. A year in which her boy had grown considerably, had gained new friends in New York, and had been happy. Emma decided then and there that she wasn't going to lie to Henry about his missing year. No more lies…

"Do you remember what Regina told us, Henry, before we got in the car?" she began as she held him close.

"Yeah, I think so. She said that she could let us escape the curse…that she could give us a good life…that—" he stopped, mid-sentence, and looked up at Emma, his expression somewhat alarmed. "How—how long has it been? Did Hook somehow escape it too?"

"Nay, lad," Killian stated, sadly, as he held out his hand to help the boy to his feet. "I went back with the others to the Enchanted Forest."

Henry did not accept his hand, an act that hurt Killian more than he'd expected, and stood of his own accord, keeping his distance to the man whom was, once again, a stranger to the boy. They had become friends in the brief time they'd been exposed to each other in New York as Killian fought to convince Emma of her true past. It altogether wounded the pirate more than he'd expected that Henry now did not know him, giving him the same distrusting look that Bae had given to him all those years ago. He returned his hand to his side, awkwardly his obvious stress at the reaction evident to Emma as she gave him a sympathetic look and extended her hand to him, which he more than gladly accepted as he hoisted her to her feet.

"Henry, Killian—er, Captain Hook helped us regain our memories. He came all this way to save us, to take us back—"

"What was it like?" Henry interrupted her as he noticed the sword strapped to his side as he pulled it from its sheath to examine it wondrously.

"What was what like?" Emma asked.

"The year we were together? I mean, I remember mom—Regina, she said she would give us the life we'd never had," Henry asked her as he stuck the sword in the snow, avoiding looking at Emma directly.

She could tell he feared the answer as much as she did saying it out loud to him, "She didn't lie. Regina gave us a really good life Henry. One…one where…where—"

Emma stopped, her voice catching in her throat as the tears threatened to spill. She swallowed hard, pushing past the emotion before she continued. He deserved to know the gift his other mother had granted him.

"Henry, she gave us memories, I think ones of you and her a bit…but it was if we'd always been together, since…since the day you were born," Emma said with a smile as the tears fell from her eyes, betraying her.

Henry looked at her, perceptively, as his eyebrows raised up as he read her expression, "You thought I'd be mad at you, didn't you?"

"Oh god, Henry I'm just—I don't even know where to begin. I thought once you remembered, after having _such _a perfect life together, that you'd resent-that you'd—" Emma began to ramble as she was suddenly cut off by Henry crashing into her, into a hug.

"Mom, don't you know by now that I love you?" his voice came, muffled from within her coat as he clung tightly to her. "No matter what happened or didn't happen…you-you're still you. You're my mom. And I love you, no matter what."

A sob escaped her lips as she squeezed Henry tight, a smile spreading widely across her lips. Emma looked up to find Killian watching them with a knowing smile. She watched him mouth 'I told you so' and Emma found a laugh escape her lips as she nodded in agreement with him. She should have never doubted Henry's love for her.

"I love you too, kid," she said, giving him one last squeeze before kissing the top of his head.

"Mom," Henry whined, embarrassed at being kissed in front of the pirate. "Not in front of everybody, jeez."

Emma laughed again and Killian thought it was one of the greatest sounds he'd heard in a long while as he watched them, "Okay, okay. Come on, we need to get back to your grandma and grandpa so we can help them out. Killian, how do we make the wardrobe work?"

"Its surprisingly simple. We gather our things and ourselves within and close the doors, wait a bit, and once we open then again, we will be back in the Enchanted Forest," he said nonchalantly as he walked over to pull Henry's sword out of the ground and wiped the snow off its blade before returning it to him. "You will want to keep this safe and in good condition, lad. Your grandfather had this specially crafted for you."

"Grandpa made this for me?" he asked him as he reverently took the sword from the man and placed it carefully back in its sheath at his side. "Cool."

"Aye, lad," he said as he ruffled the boys hair affectionately before freezing in his tracks, not remembering for a moment that Henry didn't remember the friendship he'd gained with the captain. "Er, sorry, about that."

Henry eyed him quizzically as a smile slowly crept on his face, "Its okay. My mom does that to me too, sometimes. Grandpa too, now that I think about it."

Killian smiled at the boy as he walked to the wardrobe and pulled the doors open.

"We knew each other more in the year I don't remember, didn't we, Captain?" Henry asked, again the boy's perceptiveness surprising both Killian and Emma.

Although, it shouldn't surprise him, Killian thought to himself. He was, after all, Swan's son.

"Aye," Killian started as he looked fondly at the boy, a gesture that should not make Emma's heart stutter in her chest (but it did). "I'd like to think we had become friends, Henry."

Henry gave Killian a look like he was sizing him up and the pirate captain grinned slightly, amused that this may have been the first time a twelve year-old had the audacity to look at the notorious Captain Hook in that manner. Henry then shrugged to himself, coming to some sort of internal decision. He then strode over to the pirate captain and extended his hand. Killian merely stared at the boy, not knowing what to quite do or say at this point.

"Friends?" Henry asked as he wriggled his hand expectantly at Killian.

Emma watched, amused, as Killian's eyebrows shot up to his hairline before he firmly clasped his hand to Henry's and shook it, "Friends."

"Alright then," Henry began as he stepped into the wardrobe and motioned to the others. "What are we waiting for?"

-Y&M-

Regina sat on a large, fallen tree as she tossed a rock mindlessly into the forest. It had been almost a month since the pirate had entered the wardrobe to seek out Emma and Henry. She, the Charmings, the wolf-girl, and a few of the dwarves had volunteered to take turns, keeping the other side of the wardrobe under watch to ensure their safe return. She was bored. Bored and worried about them. It shouldn't have taken this long for Captain Hook to have located them and while she knew convincing Emma of a forgotten past would be a hard thing to do (after all, the Savior had proven to be one of the most stubborn individuals Regina had ever met) she knew, deep down, that the pirate would win her over. She could see it in his eyes a year ago when they'd all been forced back to the Enchanted Forest without Emma and Henry. The pirate had pined for Emma noticeably (to every one save Emma herself whom seemed blind to it) since Neverland. She had watched them interact during that time and been witness to the moment between them before Emma and Henry drove away from the incoming curse's cloud of magic.

Love.

Love was what she'd seen in his eyes…and Emma's at the time, though she knew Henry's other mother well enough to know those towering walls she'd so carefully built up around her would never allow her to acknowledge that between the two of them. Regina sighed.

"Ridiculous idiots," she mumbled out loud as she chucked another rock into the forest. "One doesn't know how to keep a lid on his emotions while the other doesn't even know how to have them at all. Probably for the best. Who needs that kind of love anyway?"

Regina frowned. She knew she was just trying to comfort herself by denying the fact that she, too, needed love and missed it. She'd had Henry's love, but had lost that. She'd had Daniel's love too, all those years ago, and lost that as well. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps villains really couldn't have love or a happy ending for that matter.

"Everyone needs love, your Majesty. They just have to find it," a voice came from the outskirts of the trees that surrounded her.

Regina shot up immediately, startled, with a fireball in her hand, "Who's there?!"

"No need to get your knickers in a twist, my lady, tis only me," Robin Hood stated with a chuckle as he came out from the forest cover to sit beside where she had been on the fallen tree.

"How dare you spy on me!" Regina stated with a huff, even though she sat back down beside him, keeping a safe distance from him so they did not touch. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to know you're bored out of your mind and that you're a piss-poor shot with a rock," he grinned at her as she merely rolled her eyes at him.

"I'll have you know I wasn't aiming for anything, thief," she said in a huff. "And I don't need you following me around like a puppy dog all the time."

"Puppy dog?"

"Yes, while I know I'm fabulous, and I'm flattered, I truly am, this crush on me you have is only causing you to embarrass yourself, Hood," she said as she stood and shrugged at him, daring him to deny what she'd said.

"Crush?" the thief asked her, incredulously as he laughed out loud. "Your majesty, while I hate to deflate your glorious ego, I beg to differ with you. I was merely concerned for your well-being, as it were, and I did still owe you a life-debt. You did, after all, save my son from mortal danger all those months ago."

Regina frowned, her face away from his view before she stated, "Well, if that's all you're here for, Hood, you can just go back to your forest and Happy Men—"

"_Merry Men_, my lady."

"Whatever," she said as she waved her hand in the air dismissively. "You can take your leave of me as you can see, my magic can protect me just fine, or you can take one of your arrows and shove it—"

Suddenly, Robin stood and raised his hand in alarm to silence her as she almost objected to being treated with such insolence when she then also heard the noises that he had picked up on with his all too keen ears. They both stood there, frozen in their places listening when they realized the noise wasn't coming from around them, but rather from _within_ the wardrobe itself. Regina could make out muffled voices, once of which…

"Henry!" she said with a cry as she ran, with Robin following, over to the wardrobe and threw its doors open wide.

Three people came tumbling out to the forest floor…Captain Hook, Emma Swan, and Henry.

"Henry!" she shouted again as the boy looked over to her, tears of joy forming at the corners of her eyes.

"Mom? MOM!" he said as he stood and hugged her whole-heartedly.

"I—I thought I'd never see you again. I thought—" Regina began as she was cut off by Emma's frantic cries.

"Killian?!" Emma said frantically as she pulled the pirate into her arms and shook him furiously as he didn't respond. "Come on, don't do this to me! Killian!"

"What happened to him?" Regina asked as she knelt down beside the two of them to inspect his injuries.

Emma pulled back his coat to reveal the deep gash across his upper shoulder and began to ramble, "It was Walsh—I mean, it was a flying monkey. He caught Killian off-guard when he was protecting me and Henry and dug his talons into his shoulder pretty bad. I'd thought he'd be okay until we got here but as soon as we got into the wardrobe and shut the doors a few minutes later I felt him collapse and-KILLIAN WAKE UP!"

"Emma!" Regina shouted at her as Emma looked to her, tears streaming down her face. "Get a hold of yourself, you cannot help him by being hysterical like this. We have to get him back to the castle immediately."

"Aye, the man's lost a lot of blood judging by the wound and the pallor of his color. We need to get him to the castle quickly if we are to hope that he will live," Robin stated as he moved to pick up Killian and thrown him over his shoulders.

_Please, _Emma thought to herself as she watched Robin carry him hurriedly over to a horse that he had tied near Regina's, _please let him be okay. _Robin slung Killian's limp form over the horse and got on behind him.

"I'll ride ahead to get him there quicker. Regina, you have the Savior and her lad follow us. I'll send Little John with more horses," he said as he watched Emma walk over to place a soft kiss on the side of the pirate's face.

"You'd better be okay, pirate," she whispered to him as she furiously wiped tears from her face. "You hear me, Killian? You promised."

"My lady," Robin said with sympathy. "I will ensure your man lives to fight another day. I've seen worse injuries and he's probably passed out from blood loss, but I must go now if we are to save him."

Emma nodded as she felt Henry come to stand beside her, wrapping him arm around her waist as she placed her arm over his shoulders.

"Is he gonna be okay, Mom?" Henry asked with worry in his voice.

"He'd better be, kid," Emma said as she exchanged a worried look with Regina. "He'd better be."


End file.
